How to get rid of quicksand

Quicksand isn't a hell like Hollywood movies still depicting, fooling victims with a peaceful look and swallowing them. Indeed, those who have entered this sandy "soup", the more they struggle, the more subsided, but its buoyancy makes it impossible to sink.

Instructions on how to get rid of quicksand

"Because of Hollywood, people think that they can drown in quicksand. But basically, if you do simple floating calculations, the force of Archimedes, there will be immediate evidence that you cannot sink. completely in there, " said Professor Daniel Bonn , a physicist at the University of Amsterdam , Netherlands.

What is quicksand phenomenon ? These are lightweight, porous sandy mats with water. The quicksand look no different from the sand that does not settle right there. The only difference is one thing: the quicksand does not bear something heavy on it .

The quicksand is made up of salt, water, sand and clay , distributed in estuaries, beaches and river beds, very dangerous. It is the water that makes the sand sink.

Looking closely, you will see subsidence sand particles different from sand grains elsewhere in that they are 'rounder ', less angular. Water seeps into the middle of the sand grains, making them apart from each other and lifting them up and making them seem like they want to jump on each other. It was the raised and leaning event that made quicksand unable to bear the weight on them.

"If you walk on quicksand, or make it loosen up with movement, it will turn from almost solid to almost liquid, " Bonn said.

He and his colleagues showed that Hollywood was wrong in measuring the viscosity, the resistance to flow of quicksand and its sinking ability. They also calculated the force needed to pull a sunken leg out and found it to be 100,000 Newton, equivalent to the force needed to lift a medium-sized car.

If someone falls into a quicksand and begins to sink, the sand will curl around the legs, forming a trap. In films, people sunk into quicksand often grab a tree above, or be pulled out as soon as they are about to disappear under the mud.

But Bonn and his colleagues said that in reality, the victim would sink half of his body into the sand without disappearing.

Scientists also advise those who fall into quicksand don't panic."All you have to do to lift your foot is pour water into the sand and if you can do it along your feet by swinging your feet around, that would be the best way to escape, " Bonn said. .