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Piranhas
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this post was submitted on 23 May 2024
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This is good to know. Like quick sand, as a kid I thought piranhas would be a much more common problem than they are.
Quicksand is still a thing, like freshly poured foundation or mud at the bottom of a pond.
Quicksand was never a problem for me, but growing up on a farm, soft mud was a common occurrence. Good news is you can pretty immediately tell when you're walking through the stuff and can just...turn around. Worst that happens is you lose a boot, and that genuinely sucks.
But it's not the kind of thing you step into and you're up to your knee in 2 seconds.
But you don't sink all the way into it
Unless you panic and thrash about. The force required to pull your leg out is more than the force of buoyancy keeping you up. So if you are up to your hips, and you just try to step out, you will keep sinking. Once your chest is under, it will be hard to breathe and the panic gets worse.
Could be. I have never encountered quicksand but I have heard that you don't really sink past your waist.
Most quicksand probably isn't that deep, so you'll end up standing on a more solid layer
Exactly. I doubt there is a 2m deep pit of quicksand I need to be worried about
i believe it follows similar laws as water and buoyancy. you slow/stop sinking once the displaced water/force is greater than whats above the sand. Similar to deep eater, panicking only allows you to sink more.
Nope. Sand+water is less buoyant than you. You float. Death comes from dehydration or exhaustion. Not from drowning.
I'm not sure you read my comment.
Sand and water forms a non-newtonian fluid that compresses under pressure. Once you sink into it, pulling out requires exponentially more force. You're correct that you would float on quicksand if buoyancy was the only force involved. However, if you end up with both feet in, and you're sinking, the first impulse is to try to step up and out. Unfortunately, lifting one foot pressed the other deeper into the quicksand. If you remain perfectly still, you'll stop sinking at your waist. But if you move your legs, you will sink further down and your buoyancy won't lift you back out unless and until the quicksand gels again.
So how do you get out if you're alone?
Lay flat and reach the edge. Unless you jumped out into the middle, you should be within arms reach of solid ground. Don't try to pull your legs out until you have something to grab onto.
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.
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.