287
Piranhas (mander.xyz)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Xephonian@retrolemmy.com 1 points 5 months ago

If you remain perfectly still, you’ll stop sinking at your waist

I'm not sure you understand buoyancy. Floating objects float, they don't sink no matter how much thrashing about. And while quicksand is denser than water, it's still not dense enough to float a human at their waist, it's actually around their chest.

Nobody dies from drowning in quicksand. Ever. It's always dehydration/fatigue.

[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

I'm not sure you understand what a non-newtonian fluid is. A toothpick would float on jello, but if you stick it down into the jello, its buoyancy doesn't factor in. Quicksand compresses and becomes solid under force, and if you try to walk out, you're more likely to pull yourself deeper. The force of you floating is weaker than the force of compressed quicksand keeping you down.

And I didn't say that anyone drowns, I said it gets hard to breathe if you manage to sink up to your chest. You're right about the dehydration and fatigue, but it is due to panic. If you can float, then you could just lie on your back and roll your way to the edge. But once you're in deep, it would take a tow truck to drag your legs out against the force of the gelled quicksand.

this post was submitted on 23 May 2024
287 points (97.4% liked)

Science Memes

11081 readers
2584 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS