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Here's a pic of my legs in the pool water. There are tiny air bubbles on them. I thought this is the result of air coming out of my leg, but I learnt that this is not the case. Also, there seem to be more air bubbles on my left leg than my right despite both of them being in water for the same duration.

Further, it seemed as if the number of bubbles on my legs was increasing with time. I haven't been able to figure out why this happens, so I would appreciate it if someone could help me figure this out.

enter image description here

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2 Answers 2

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I'm no expert in the field, but I'm quite certain that the air bubbles just stuck to your leg when you pushed it under water or there was air released below you and stuck to you leg.

EDIT: If there are gases solved in the water (there is some oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide from the air plus maybe gases coming from chemicals for cleaning the pool). They may form bubbles on you leg over time.

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    $\begingroup$ But the number of bubbles kept increasing as my leg was under water. If they were just stuck from the beginning, wouldn't they have reduced instead? $\endgroup$
    – Abhilash
    Mar 17, 2019 at 21:41
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    $\begingroup$ Was this a pool or a hot tub? Either way, there’s likely excess dissolved gasses in the water for some reason, (or you’re swimming in hydrogen peroxide). Human skin is an ideal nucleation point for gasses because it is rough on microscopic scales, and your hair additionally serves as a nucleation point as well as a physical barrier that helps to hold on to the gas. $\endgroup$
    – user42012
    Mar 17, 2019 at 21:53
  • $\begingroup$ @RyanFranz I really think you should turn this comment into an answer as you’ve stated the key explanations quite well. $\endgroup$ Mar 18, 2019 at 6:43
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    $\begingroup$ I might add a more detailed answer later if I have time (which I don’t unfortunately today). But for whatever reason one foot is better suited to form air bubbles than the other, which likely means one foot is more rough on a microscopic scale than the other. Something happened to one foot and not the other... could easily be something you wouldn’t think about like shampoo or conditioner running down only one leg in the shower and not the other. $\endgroup$
    – user42012
    Mar 18, 2019 at 18:14
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    $\begingroup$ @vorzawk Are you sure that you haven't just moved one leg a little and lost some bubbles? $\endgroup$
    – paleonix
    Mar 19, 2019 at 20:22
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I bet is excess of chemicals in a hot tub (pH increaser, pH decreaser, calcium hardener, chlorine, etc.).

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