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Old 27th May 2012, 07:36 PM   #1
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Quicksand facts

So, you can float free?
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Old 27th May 2012, 07:45 PM   #2
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Not me, I'm too dense.
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Old 27th May 2012, 07:49 PM   #3
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It appears so.
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Old 27th May 2012, 08:00 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by marplots View Post
Not me, I'm too dense.
What a pithyful shame.
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Old 27th May 2012, 08:02 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
Are you finding out just now as well?
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Old 27th May 2012, 09:39 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by h.g.Whiz View Post
Are you finding out just now as well?
Not sure what you mean. I was confirming my previous belief. You never know when some old myth suckered you in. Always best to check.
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Old 27th May 2012, 09:43 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
Not sure what you mean. I was confirming my previous belief. You never know when some old myth suckered you in. Always best to check.
I do not believe you are dense enough to be sucked in by old myths.
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Old 27th May 2012, 10:48 PM   #8
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Mythbusters already checked this myth...

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But even by thinking about it logically you'd have to conclude that you'd float in quicksand. Sand is denser than water, and quicksand is a mixture of sand and water, therefore quicksand is denser than water. Humans have about the same density as water, and so have a lower density than quicksand, and so would float.
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Old 28th May 2012, 02:53 AM   #9
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IIRC this was a point in one of Piers Anthony's books, you can float on quicksand.
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Old 28th May 2012, 03:38 AM   #10
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If sand is denser than water, then it can't be suspended in water, unless something is keeping it suspended.
Most "quicksand" is actually mud. Clay.
Clay chemistry is complex. Clays like montmorillonite expand enormously in water and can produce a viscous slurry that is simultaneously mobile and sticky. Get into it and you may have great difficulty getting out.
Mix that with a running sand and you have something that forms a rather effective trap.
Now add a bit of darkness, rain, possible local flooding and maybe garnish with tree branches and vegetation washing in ... and just relaxing and floating out may be a lot harder than it sounds.

But the idea of being sucked under is false, except in the rare case of a mud / sand slurry overlying a deeper current. Thats more likely in mud slides or tsunamis.
All in all, it's not at the top of my worry list.
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Old 28th May 2012, 03:39 AM   #11
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Don't worry, Tarzan will always rescue you.
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Old 28th May 2012, 03:50 AM   #12
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Ever wonder what sort of view you get as he swings overhead on a liana, wearing a loincloth?
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Old 28th May 2012, 04:04 AM   #13
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Piles of grain are more like the stereotypical movie idea of quicksand in that workers in silos can easily be covered in a matter of moments if its flowing, e.g. the bin is being emptied.
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Old 28th May 2012, 07:24 AM   #14
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I've stumbled into the stuff. The problem is, even though it is denser than we are, its still easy to sink down to your waste. I've had to be pulled out a few times.
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Old 28th May 2012, 07:27 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by quarky View Post
The problem is, even though it is denser than we are, its still easy to sink down to your waste.
I was about to correct your spelling, but given that falling into quicksand is pretty scary, you could be right.

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Old 28th May 2012, 08:45 AM   #16
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Originally Posted by marplots View Post
I do not believe you are dense enough to be sucked in by old myths.
When did you learn lemmings don't really commit mass suicide? Vitamin C doesn't cure or prevent a cold? You don't catch a cold from being cold? Betsy Ross didn't really sew the first flag?

There are thousands of such myths that become 'common knowledge'. It's my principle to trust but verify if it isn't a fact I've recently checked. I fail to see what the problem is with that.
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Old 28th May 2012, 08:46 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by LibraryLady View Post
Don't worry, Tarzan will always rescue you.
That's only if you're female.
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Old 28th May 2012, 08:54 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
When did you learn lemmings don't really commit mass suicide? Vitamin C doesn't cure or prevent a cold? You don't catch a cold from being cold? Betsy Ross didn't really sew the first flag?

There are thousands of such myths that become 'common knowledge'. It's my principle to trust but verify if it isn't a fact I've recently checked. I fail to see what the problem is with that.
No problem, I botched a compliment, that's all.

I remember the lemmings one. Busted two myths at the time as I recall. The first was about the rodents and the second was about film makers -- that they were honestly depicting what happened in nature.
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Old 28th May 2012, 10:05 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
That's only if you're female.
Okay, Tarzan will always rescue me.
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Old 28th May 2012, 10:13 AM   #20
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I spend a lot of time at a "lake", parts of which have at least ten feet of mud (the longest pole we've tested with) beneath one foot of water. If you fell in flat you could float or swim, but feet first and too far from the boat to hold on to it, and I think you'd be dead. Just walking out from shore as the sand gives way to mud, it gets pretty scary when you get into two feet of mud beneath two feet of water.
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Old 28th May 2012, 10:36 AM   #21
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You can, and will, be sucked down to your death in quicksand but only if you are a
villan. "Good guys" always have a rope/vine, sidekick, hot woman to save them.
More often than not a good guy is able to save himself by strengh alone. Women seem to be totally immune to the evils of quicksand.
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Old 28th May 2012, 11:42 AM   #22
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You know what's scarier than quicksand?

A floating pool cover.
If you get on one of those, you start to sink and the plastic envelops you, like a hideous jelly-fish. Pretty dangerous deal.
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Old 28th May 2012, 12:19 PM   #23
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Originally Posted by commandlinegamer View Post
Piles of grain are more like the stereotypical movie idea of quicksand in that workers in silos can easily be covered in a matter of moments if its flowing, e.g. the bin is being emptied.
Indeed so. Especially if there is air being blown in at the bottom to "fluidise" the grain (or other powder) for pneumatic transport. Dust and air is a damn nasty mix.
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Old 28th May 2012, 12:28 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by LibraryLady View Post
Okay, Tarzan will always rescue me.
I will never forget one of those films from the 50s or 60s where the supposed jungle queen (a white girl, no less, but who was supposed to be surviving in the jungle just fine before the Tarzan-like hero found her, it may not have been Tarzan) was rescued on average about every 15 minutes throughout the movie.
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Old 28th May 2012, 12:35 PM   #25
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What about the R.O.U.S.'s?
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Old 28th May 2012, 12:45 PM   #26
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Originally Posted by Soapy Sam View Post
Indeed so. Especially if there is air being blown in at the bottom to "fluidise" the grain (or other powder) for pneumatic transport. Dust and air is a damn nasty mix.
My son-in-law is an engineer that gets sent out to trouble shoot power plants.
He told me of one job wherein there was a vat of tiny glass spheres. i forget what type of power plant, or the purpose of this pool-sized container of nearly-liquid glass balls...but he had to enter it to repair something. He ended up buying a cheap blow-up raft to get in there. i would have loved to know what its like to try to swim under that sort of artificial liquid...and if you could breathe under it, due to all the air in the spaces.

i want a fake water swimming pool, and i want to breathe under the surface of it, and even sleep in it. Too bad the tiny glass spheres are so expensive.
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Old 28th May 2012, 12:50 PM   #27
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I guess the Jungle Queen was a serial movie from the 30s. I must have seen the reruns.
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No quicksand scene in that 10 minutes but the stereotypes are priceless. I'm sure if one looked for a while one could find a quicksand rescue scene.


Here's the 'not quite so PC but they tried' modern remake with Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. It's another priceless rescue scene, this time with quicksand:
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Old 28th May 2012, 01:28 PM   #28
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Originally Posted by autumn1971 View Post
What about the R.O.U.S.'s?
I don't think you can float out of an ROUS.
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Old 28th May 2012, 02:07 PM   #29
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Originally Posted by Tiktaalik View Post
I don't think you can float out of an ROUS.
My Google-fu finds either "Rodents Of Unusual Size" or the Rous sarcoma virus. Care to offer a third option?
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Old 28th May 2012, 02:29 PM   #30
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Originally Posted by Tiktaalik View Post
I don't think you can float out of an ROUS.
It's okay. I don't believe they exist. . .
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Old 28th May 2012, 02:33 PM   #31
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
My Google-fu finds either "Rodents Of Unusual Size" or the Rous sarcoma virus. Care to offer a third option?
First one. Bad Princess Bride reference.
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Old 28th May 2012, 02:34 PM   #32
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Originally Posted by Hoppy View Post
You can, and will, be sucked down to your death in quicksand but only if you are a
villan. "Good guys" always have a rope/vine, sidekick, hot woman to save them.
More often than not a good guy is able to save himself by strengh alone. Women seem to be totally immune to the evils of quicksand.
.
The tragedies occur when Tommy falls into the quicksand and the time Lassie takes to run home for help is too long, and Tommy goes under...
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Old 28th May 2012, 02:38 PM   #33
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
I will never forget one of those films from the 50s or 60s where the supposed jungle queen (a white girl, no less, but who was supposed to be surviving in the jungle just fine before the Tarzan-like hero found her, it may not have been Tarzan) was rescued on average about every 15 minutes throughout the movie.
.
I saw a condemned film where the white girl in the jungle was the only female wearing a bra.
All the natives were free-jiggling.
It was a German film.. 'long 'bout 1958...
Us Catholic boys went to see it knowing it was condemned!
It was written in the school paper.
Some nuns had gone to it, not understanding the theme.. and were appalled!
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Old 28th May 2012, 02:38 PM   #34
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Originally Posted by autumn1971 View Post
First one. Bad Princess Bride reference.
There are no bad Princess Bride references.

Prepare to die.
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Old 28th May 2012, 02:39 PM   #35
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Originally Posted by autumn1971 View Post
It's okay. I don't believe they exist. . .
.
Don't ever go into the Fire Swamp!
Belief won't save you!
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Old 28th May 2012, 02:50 PM   #36
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Originally Posted by I Ratant View Post
.
I saw a condemned film where the white girl in the jungle was the only female wearing a bra.
All the natives were free-jiggling.
It was a German film.. 'long 'bout 1958...
Us Catholic boys went to see it knowing it was condemned!
It was written in the school paper.
Some nuns had gone to it, not understanding the theme.. and were appalled!
You're a Catholic?
Christ, I should have known.

I saw Tarzan and his mate on TV in the late 50's or early 60's, and Jane did a nude underwater seen that almost popped my eyeballs out. How did the censors miss that? It was the first breasts I'd ever seen, not counting National Geographic.
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Old 28th May 2012, 03:42 PM   #37
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Originally Posted by quarky View Post
You know what's scarier than quicksand?

A floating pool cover.
If you get on one of those, you start to sink and the plastic envelops you, like a hideous jelly-fish. Pretty dangerous deal.
Yeah, as a kid i had a very, very , exceedingly brief encounter with one, and to this day i honestly still have the odd dream about it.

Just that feeling like the second you throw an unlucky kick to try and get it away from you, your going to be enveloped, scary ****.
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Old 28th May 2012, 04:09 PM   #38
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My brother and sister and I all got stuck in a pool of muck when I was around 9 years old. About 3 feet deep. It took me about 2 hours to get out of it, only 6-7 feet or so from the edge. I lost my pants and my shoes, my sister lost everything but her shirt. Luckily our shirts were pretty long and we were covered in mud. Had to walk home 2 miles. Our clothes and shoes are still under there, alongside the run off ditch from a turnpike.
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Old 28th May 2012, 05:05 PM   #39
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Originally Posted by quarky View Post
You're a Catholic?
Christ, I should have known.

I saw Tarzan and his mate on TV in the late 50's or early 60's, and Jane did a nude underwater seen that almost popped my eyeballs out. How did the censors miss that? It was the first breasts I'd ever seen, not counting National Geographic.
.
I'd seen a couple of condemned movies before that one... and wondered WTF is the problem with the National Legion of Decency?
Didn't seen anything worth a mortal sin in any of them, and today, they'd be considered ho-hum, even on prime time tv.
The language was certainly a lot milder.
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Old 28th May 2012, 08:05 PM   #40
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Domini Domini.

I will say 5 Hail Mary's for your sins.
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