# Amount of inhaled water to cause secondary drowning

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amount-of-inhaled-water-to-cause-secondary-drowning/727435>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 10, 2015, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amount-of-inhaled-water-to-cause-secondary-drowning/727435 "2015-08-10T07:28:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amount-of-inhaled-water-to-cause-secondary-drowning/727435/1 "2015-08-10T07:28:22Z")

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How much water would a person have to inhale by accident for secondary drowning to occur? Are we talking, say, 1 ounce for a healthy adult to experience this kind of drowning, days later?

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amount-of-inhaled-water-to-cause-secondary-drowning/727435/2 "2015-08-10T07:36:48Z")

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Edit: Why can’t the lungs expel a small quantity of water? Also, at what point is the danger past? Let’s say, 100 hours after a near-drowning, with no signs of secondary drowning?

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amount-of-inhaled-water-to-cause-secondary-drowning/727435/3 "2015-08-10T10:33:55Z")

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No cites, but in some cases of drowning, it’s not the inhalation of water that kills the person. Rather, they die from laryngospasm, i.e. their vocal cords goe into spasm and prevent air from entering the lungs (with the spasm having been reflexly induced by water touching the cords).

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amount-of-inhaled-water-to-cause-secondary-drowning/727435/4 "2015-08-10T18:18:08Z")

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> [@KarlGauss](#):
>
> No cites, but in some cases of drowning, it’s not the inhalation of water that kills the person. Rather, they die from laryngospasm, i.e. their vocal cords goe into spasm and prevent air from entering the lungs (with the spasm having been reflexly induced by water touching the cords).

Isn’t that ‘dry drowning,’ quite different?