The Design and Challenges of Submersibles

The episode explores the design challenges faced by August and Jacques Picard in creating the Trieste submersible. They adapted their knowledge of balloons for underwater vehicles, controlling buoyancy using a tank of gasoline. The pressure at ocean depths can reach 16,000 pounds per square inch, necessitating a thick sphere cockpit. The Trieste, with a 50-foot-long gasoline tank and a steel-walled cockpit, allowed August and Jacques to set deep-sea diving records, including reaching the Challenger Deep, the lowest point on Earth.