![]() However, it responds to tiny deviations in force, and it can liquefy quickly under high stress. Over time, the sand continues to thicken. ![]() The Recipe for DisasterĪccording to Dutch and French research, quicksand is made of fine sand, clay, and saltwater. And, while getting out can be difficult, it’s not impossible. Made mostly of water, human bodies actually float and don’t entirely sink in the loose, wet sand. In fact, due to the composition of the human body, you’ll never actually be fully immersed and swallowed by quicksand. The fact is, if you get stuck in a bed quicksand, there are ways to escape its evil clutches. But how truly difficult is this scene to escape? From Indiana Jones to Jumanji, we’ve witnessed our favorite characters slowly slip into panic and spring to heroic acts to save themselves from quicksand traps. Khaldoun, Bonn et al.Despite the popular cinematic depiction of quicksand, research shows that these sinking holes may not be as encapsulating as we believe. The density of quicksand, at 2 grams per cubic centimetre, is twice the density of a human (1 gram per cubic centimetre), so stuck you might be, but drowned you wouldn't! Making small circles with each part of your body re-introduces water between the sand and clay particles, reducing the density and making it easier for someone to heave you out.īut everyone apart from a Hollywood director can take solace from the most important finding of the research - that it's impossible to drown in quicksand - you should only sink half way. The best way out is to try to re-build the house cards around the trapped body parts. You'd probably escape, but minus your legs. Well certainly not the way Hollywood would have you do it - by being pulled out by a horse - because Daniel Bonn's measurements show that the force need to extract a trapped foot (ten thousand Newtons) is equivalent to that needed to lift the average family car. The result is a very stodgy layer of sand and clay, which is twice as dense as the original quicksand and packed tightly around the trapped body parts. ![]() When there's enough salt present, as soon as the clay particles liquefy, electrical charges make them begin to stick together to form bigger particles and these also settle with the sand. ![]() Very quickly, the sand sinks to the bottom and the water floats to the top. Liquefying the clay makes the quicksand about one million times runnier, and the whole house of cards comes tumbling down, with you inside it. The effect is the same as stirring a pot of yoghurt. But as soon as it's disturbed, by stepping on it, the clay changes from a jelly-like consistency to a runny liquid. Together these materials form a structure resembling a house of cards, with large water-filled gaps between the sand particles, which are loosely glued in place by the clay.Īs long as it's left alone, the structure remains stable. Realising that science didn't actually have an answer to the quicksand conundrum, he took some samples home with him.Īnalysis of the composition of the "quicksand" showed that there are four key ingedients - sand, obviously, water, clay and salt. Local shepherds had told him that, periodically, camels and people (usually those who had dared to disagree with the local regime) had disappeared in the area. There was a time when almost every action movie seemed to involve the hero or villain becoming swamped in quicksand, sinking away until only their hat remains on the surface even Flash Gordon and vine-swinging ape-man Tarzan were victims during their careers.īut contrary to what Hollywood would have you believe, it's actually impossible to drown in quicksand, but almost as impossible to escape, as a Dutch scientist found when he produced his own home-made variety in the laboratory.ĭaniel Bonn was on holiday in the Iranian province of Qom when he saw a sign saying "Danger: Quicksand".
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