Truth about whether quicksand is really as dangerous as movies make us believe
Topics: Weird
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Photos
Topics: Weird
From watching countless movies over the years, we've learnt an awful lot about what we should not be doing in real life.
But as I'm sure most of us are aware, movies are very much fiction and are often dramatized to add to the drama and story.
Despite that, many have become accustomed to how dangerous quicksand is, thanks to some innocent character slowly descending into the muck in a TV show or movie.
Of course, unless you literally live on a beach, quicksand is not exactly something you are going to come across on a daily basis.
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But it does certainly have it dangers, so is something that should be taken very seriously by all.
Quicksand became very much apparent in films post World War II, often providing the perfect death opportunity for many directors.
I know, morbid.
In what is a rather bizarre stat you'll learn today, the site Sate found that three percent of films back in the 1960s featured some kind of feature heaving a rather unfortunate time in quicksand.
While there are many examples of quicksand causing ultimate devastation in films over the years, perhaps the most obvious one that springs to mind is the sinking sand moment in the 1962 classic Lawrence of Arabia.
Sinking sand moments certainly calmed down a fair bit heading into the 1980s, with Slate reporting that roughly one in every 75 films featured quicksand.
Now, we've established that quicksand features heavily in films for some reason, what actually is the devil that is depicted in so many films.
Well, we all known quicksand as being a sludgy solution of sand, often looking like a solid surface that is perfectly fine to walk across.
But with the right quantity of water, quicksand is produced and you could be in for a tricky time.
The first worry that comes after you have walked in quicksand is 'Can I go fully under'?
According to a report published in the journal Nature back in 2005, a bunch of Dutch scientists said: "A person trapped in salt-lake quicksand is not in any danger of being sucked under completely.
"Any unfortunate victim should sink halfway into the quicksand, but could then take solace from the knowledge that there would be no risk of being sucked beneath the surface."
If you do find yourself stuck in quicksand it is advised you lean back and spread out to evenly spread out your weight.
While that may seem counterintuitive, you can't really argue with the experts.