7 Facts About Quicksand
Quicksand has one of the dangerous hazard thanks to all the movies that made us believe yet we didnt know the nature within this .But surprisingly , a quicksand is not really that bad as we think of it to be. Today, let us learn 7 entertaining quicksand facts and breaking all the beliefs we've heard about this .
- Quicksand is essentially ordinary sand with the only difference being that in case of a quicksand, the sand is actually over saturated by water, with no escape route for the water. The presence of excess water reduces the level of friction between two neighboring sand particles.
- Now, when we say that the victim sinks, we don’t really mean it. The victim is not really sucked up entirely by the quicksand. Contrary to the popular belief, victim only sinks to knee depth.
- Such an attempt only worsens the situation. With all pressure concentrated on one leg, the area on which the pressure acts is reduced, thereby leading further displacement of liquefied soil and the victim sinks even further.
- The density of quicksand can be lower than 2 g per cubic centimeter depending on the volume of water present below. However, its density never falls below that of human body density.
- It is under this situation that the sand and water stay mixed together in form of a mushy mixer. Actually it is a colloidal state where, due to lack of friction, the sand is no longer able to support weight.
- A quicksand is usually not very deep. It hardly reaches the depth of a couple of feet. The problem however is the surrounding area. In case someone is trapped in a quicksand on a sea beach, the tidal waters pose a great threat. A person trapped there is more likely to drown in tide water. Sometimes, the trapped people simply dehydrate and die because of the sun or just perish because of hunger. It is not really quicksand that kills them.
- Quicksand is not really region-specific. This means that a quicksand can appear just about anywhere in world.
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