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Dry quicksand1/3/2023 You’re basically going to backstroke yourself out from here. Yes, you’re putting more of your upper body in the sand, but it will spread your weight out a little more and improve your buoyancy. Now, to pull yourself out, start by leaning backwards. Flailing, however, makes you sink deeper by making the quicksand more fluid. Remember, you won’t sink all the way in, just to your hips or so if you’re not carrying a pack or wearing heavy gear. It’s less difficult to get out than you might think. It can, and does, develop almost everywhere in the U.S., but the hotspots are the marshes and coasts of the Southeast, and the canyons of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. People who die in quicksand don’t die because they sank all the way in, but because they weren’t able to get out quickly enough and were exposed to the elements - low temperatures, incoming tide, etc.īecause quicksand needs underground water to form, riverbanks, beaches, sand washes, alluvial fans, swamps, marshes, and areas with natural springs are the most common spots to find it. The average person is only going to sink to his or her waist, elbows or armpits, depending on what they’re wearing and carrying. Objects sink only to the level at which their weight is equal to the weight of the displaced sand/water mix, and then the object floats due to its buoyancy. If you step on it, you’ll start to sink, though not necessarily to your doom.ĭespite its frequency in fiction, complete submersion and death in quicksand doesn’t happen in real life. The ground loses a lot of its ability to support weight, and takes on a consistency somewhat like wet concrete. If enough water seeps up from an underground source and gets under and around each grain, though, the friction gets compromised and the soil and water become a suspension where the grains are floating around in the water. Normally, sand/soil can support weight on top of it because the friction between the grains helps distribute the load across a large area. Quicksand is what happens when regular old sand or grainy soil gets mixed with water under the right conditions. This shouldn’t come as a shock, but real quicksand isn’t exactly how Hollywood makes it out to be. Conveniently, there’s always a pool of pasty goo sitting around somewhere, usually perfectly circular and somewhat hidden from the characters’ view. Whenever a minor character needs to be killed off quickly, the hero needs someone to rescue, or danger needs to be introduced without calling the villain in, quicksand is there to fulfill the task and swallow an explorer whole. #Dry quicksand tvQuicksand is a staple hazard of adventure movies, TV shows and video games.
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