Sticky stuff

[Stiv]

I know this is a problem some of the places I travel. I got stuck in moosemuck in Ontario years ago. Almost up to my theighs How about you all???

Waving, not drowning: The truth about quicksand Wed Sep 28, 2:19 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) - Scientists have given the lie to the hoary scene in Westerns in which a cowboy slowly drowns in quicksand or alternatively is cast a lifeline by a buddy and gets hauled to safety.

Physicists in the Netherlands built a miniature quicksand in their lab, mixing up fine sand, clay and saltwater.

They discovered that quicksand becomes more viscous very slowly: it takes days for the substance to become progressively more toffee-like in consistency.

On the other hand, it loses this viscosity very quickly in response to stress. A moving object in the sand causes it to liquefy swiftly, as the sand heads towards the bottom and the upper layers become runny.

The settling sand then becomes so compact that it is impossible for material with the density of a human body to become completely submerged.

So an ensnared cowboy should take solace in that he won't drown, the study suggests.

On the other hand, he is likely to stay there for a long time, for even the most muscular help won't get him out.

The dense sand so clumps around the lower limbs that just to haul out a foot requires a force of 100,000 Newtons -- about the same as that needed to lift a medium-sized car.

The study, published on Thursday in the British weekly science journal Nature, is led by University of Amsterdam researcher Daniel
Bonn.

If someone falls into quicksand they begin to sink and the sand packs densely around the feet, forming a type of trap. In films people sinking in quicksand usually grab on to an overhanging tree branch or are pulled out just as they are about to disappear under the mucky surface.

But Bonn and his team said in real life the victim would sink halfway into the quicksand but would not disappear.

The scientists advised people trapped in quicksand not to panic and to wiggle.

"All you have to do to get your foot out is to introduce water into the sand and if you can do that along your leg by wiggling your leg around, that is the best way to get out," Bonn said

[Outkast]

My experience is that you can almost "swim" out of it- floating is actually pretty possible. The key is to take your time about it...