Another Hollywood myth sunk
from 
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Quicksand is one of those things I always wondered about but never remembered to look up... Exactly what is it? What makes it different from other sand or mud? Why don't we have it here in East TN? Does it really behave as portrayed in the cartoons & movies?
Well, this news item plopped some information right in my lap & I thought some of you might find it interesting too. As for me, I'll look into it further-- it's more interesting than expected
[[ FYI, where I wrote 'snip' I cut some stuff to save space. If you want to see it, check the link. ]]
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How to overcome that sinking feeling in quicksand http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2005-09-28T171003Z_01_YUE861767_RTRUKOC_0_US-QUICKSAND.xml
Quicksand is not the bottomless pit portrayed in Hollywood films that sucks in unsuspecting victims and swallows them whole.
snip
"Everybody thinks, thanks to Hollywood, that you can drown in quicksand. Basically if you do a simple buoyancy calculation, the Archimedes force, it is immediately evident that you can't drown completely," said Daniel Bonn, of the Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Quicksand consists of salt, water, sand and clay. It is the water content that makes quicksand, which is found near estuaries, beaches and rivers, so dangerous.
snip
They... calculated the amount of force necessary to get a trapped foot out -- and found it was the equivalent needed to lift a medium-sized car. Their findings are reported in the science journal Nature.
If someone falls into quicksand they begin to sink and the sand packs densely around the feet, forming a type of trap. In films people sinking in quicksand usually grab on to an overhanging tree branch or are pulled out just as they are about to disappear under the mucky surface.
But Bonn and his team said in real life the victim would sink halfway into the quicksand but would not disappear.
snip
"All you have to do to get your foot out is to introduce water into the sand and if you can do that along your leg by wiggling your leg around, that is the best way to get out," Bonn said.
Well, this news item plopped some information right in my lap & I thought some of you might find it interesting too. As for me, I'll look into it further-- it's more interesting than expected
[[ FYI, where I wrote 'snip' I cut some stuff to save space. If you want to see it, check the link. ]]
____________________
How to overcome that sinking feeling in quicksand http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2005-09-28T171003Z_01_YUE861767_RTRUKOC_0_US-QUICKSAND.xml
Quicksand is not the bottomless pit portrayed in Hollywood films that sucks in unsuspecting victims and swallows them whole.
snip
"Everybody thinks, thanks to Hollywood, that you can drown in quicksand. Basically if you do a simple buoyancy calculation, the Archimedes force, it is immediately evident that you can't drown completely," said Daniel Bonn, of the Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Quicksand consists of salt, water, sand and clay. It is the water content that makes quicksand, which is found near estuaries, beaches and rivers, so dangerous.
snip
They... calculated the amount of force necessary to get a trapped foot out -- and found it was the equivalent needed to lift a medium-sized car. Their findings are reported in the science journal Nature.
If someone falls into quicksand they begin to sink and the sand packs densely around the feet, forming a type of trap. In films people sinking in quicksand usually grab on to an overhanging tree branch or are pulled out just as they are about to disappear under the mucky surface.
But Bonn and his team said in real life the victim would sink halfway into the quicksand but would not disappear.
snip
"All you have to do to get your foot out is to introduce water into the sand and if you can do that along your leg by wiggling your leg around, that is the best way to get out," Bonn said.
