Why Do Movies Make Quicksand Look Scarier? Researchers Explain Its Terror and How It Works

Quicksand used to be a standard trope in action movies in the past. It is a patch of solid ground in the jungle that turns out to have the consistency of cold oatmeal. Unfortunately for those victims, they could start sinking into the muck and will have a hard time getting out, in which case struggling will only make it worse.

Quicksand researcher Daniel Bonn from the University of Amsterdam told Newsweek that quicksand could form when rivers transport clay and mix it with sand and salt water. It results in becoming mushy and collapsing under any weight. But given how they are often used to portray deaths or near-deaths in movies, is quicksand as dangerous as they are advertised?

Quicksand: What, Where, and How Many

According to Britannica, quicksand behaves as a liquid because it is saturated with water, which can make it mucky. However, contrary to Hollywood movies' portrayal, it is impossible to die in them because of buoyancy since quicksand is denser than the human body.

Although people and animals can get stuck in them, they do not get sucked down to the bottom and will only float on the surface. The lower part of the body may sink because it is dense, but the torso contains the lungs and is buoyant enough to stay afloat.

Per Newsweek, quicksand can be found anywhere in the US, especially in estuaries or rivers. Quicksand is most common in the marshy coasts of Florida, Carolinas, in canyons in southern Utah, New Mexico, and northern Arizona.

Quicksand is usually only a few feet deep, so deaths due to them are incredibly rare and practically unheard of. Bonn noted that it is difficult to get out of quicksand, but getting stuck in quicksand near the sand could kill a person due to high tide. He added that pulling away from a quicksand will only make it harder to get out, so one must wiggle their way out of it,

A notable death by quicksand was in 2015 when a 50-year-old man swam alone in a river suddenly went missing. Three days later, a search party found his body lodged in quicksand 350 yards upstream. An autopsy report reveals that the man drowned after becoming stuck.

Bonn explains that this demonstrates how getting stuck in a quicksand could be difficult due to the dense packing of sand grains at the bottom of the liquified part, which could lead to death.

How to Get Out of Quicksand?

If a person unexpectedly stepped into quicksand, what should they do to get out of it? The Prompt magazine said that besides doing "Walk Like an Egyptian," wherein they use their arms to signal for help, a person stuck in quicksand could also try to move slowly. Substances like quicksand could only trap a person the faster they move, so moving slowly will help them get out.

Sometimes, they can also escape by wriggling out of it. Experts always advise people not to struggle if caught in quicksand. They should keep arm movements small as any motion could only cause the sand to liquefy further and make escape harder.

The most effective hack is to lean back to ensure that the body is distributed over a large area. Slow movements back and forth will allow the sand to become loose around the body, so it is better if there is someone else to help the person escape.

Check out more news and information on Physics & Math in Science Times.