• Question: quicksand? how?

    Asked by ginganinja2211 to Anzy, Aoife, Dave, Matt, Tomasz on 19 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: David Christensen

      David Christensen answered on 19 Nov 2013:

      I just tried to read something about quicksand to see if I could explain it to you ginganinja, but I really didn’t understand it, sorry!

      Hopefully one of the other scientists can do better than I can!

    • Photo: Matthew Tomlinson

      Matthew Tomlinson answered on 19 Nov 2013:

      Right, I’m no physicist but here is my attempt at an explanation. Quicksand occurs in areas where there is sand (or another fine material) and water mixed together. The sand has to be loose and the area saturated with water. When there is a shock to the saturated sand the water and sand separate, the sand becoming clumped together into dense sediments. This leaves a lot of free water in the area causing the quicksand to become like a fluid.

      I think this is right, although any physicist will probably rip my explanation to pieces. The thing I learnt from looking this up is that quicksand isn’t as dangerous as you think because any person is unlikely to sink to the bottom of it due to changes in density as you sink further down.

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