![]() If you still can, take a couple steps back to solid ground. So the first step is to keep calm, resist the urge to flail around, and act fast. Sudden big movements will also disturb the soil underneath you more and get you stuck even deeper. While it can be frightening, panicking will only unnecessarily drain you and put you in a much worse situation. Usually found near bodies of water, sinking in quicksand often takes just a couple of seconds and getting out of one by yourself can be difficult without help. Quicksand is loose soil saturated with water. But don’t worry, here are a couple of steps that you can take so you can try to extract yourself from one. While it isn’t usually as dangerous as you may think, being in one can still be panic-inducing. Quicksand can usually be found near bodies of water like rivers and lakes, and some of them can even “move around” depending on different conditions. Quicksand is loose, fine soil that’s saturated with water and may appear solid until it’s abruptly disturbed by changes in the environment and it liquefies. Extricating a person from this takes at least two passersby, if not a full-fledged rescue team.įor more information on quicksand, other natural disasters and related topics, check out the links on the next page.Are you getting that sinking feeling? It may not be just anxiety, you might have stepped on quicksand. The sand has to be at just the right moisture for this to happen and the person has to be at least thigh-deep with both legs. ![]() There have been many cases where people have gotten their legs trapped in quicksand and haven't been able to escape on their own. Once you've pulled your foot out, roll away from the area, jump up very quickly and sprint to solid ground. Continue to work at freeing your foot, using slow motions so that you don't work your foot in deeper. What you should do instead is fall forward and try to spread the weight of your body over a large area of ground. This movement actually worsens the predicament. At this point, a sort of seesaw motion happens - with the person alternating their weight back and forth, trying to get a foot out of the quicksand. One of the most common reactions once a person finds his or her foot stuck is to shift weight to the other foot. So, if you find yourself in sand that's less saturated (think of concrete), there's a better method to try. The sand-to- water ratio of quicksand can vary, causing some quicksand to be less able to support weight. This approach works best in quicksand that's fairly well saturated. The best thing to do if you fall into deep quicksand is to make slow movements and bring yourself to the surface, then just lie back. You'll only succeed in forcing yourself further down into the liquid sandpit. The worst thing to do is to thrash around in the sand and move your arms and legs through the mixture. If a person has a higher percentage of body fat, it's possible he or she will have a very slight advantage and be more buoyant - and will float to the top more quickly. But once each victim is in up to his or her knees or so, weight doesn't really matter. ![]() So at first, the heavier person might sink more quickly. According to Dumouchelle, once you've stepped into quicksand, it's your weight that initially causes you to sink. However, your movements can cause you to dig yourself deeper into it. If you step into quicksand, you actually won't be sucked down. The most common misconception about quicksand is that it's some kind of living, bottomless pit of sand that actually pulls you down into it. Most people who drown in quicksand, or any liquid for that matter, usually panic and begin flailing their arms and legs. Quicksand is denser than water - it has a density of about 125 pounds per cubic foot (2 g/cm³) - which means you can float more easily on quicksand than on water. If you have a low percentage of body fat, you're going to be denser, but the air trapped in your lungs will still let you float. OK, so now we know how it works - but what happens when two people stumble into some quicksand? The average human body has a density of 62.4 pounds per cubic foot (1 g/cm³) and is able to float on water. The affected area becomes unstable, causing buildings or other objects on that surface to sink or fall over. Earthquakes: The immense force of the earthquake agitates the sand or dirt, sifting it apart, so that friction between the particles is reduced.The sand takes on a more fluid-like quality. As the sand becomes saturated with water, the friction between the sand particles is reduced. Flowing underground water: The water seeps up into the sand, creating a tiny pocket between each sand granule.
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