# I got trapped in quicksand! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 21, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508 "2013-03-21T01:20:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/21 "2013-03-22T12:30:48Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > What ever happened to quicksand anyway? Back in the 80s, every third movie had a quicksand scene. It went the same way as every snake being a rattlesnake, every spider being a striped tarantula, and every bird having the call of red-tailed hawk. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/22 "2013-03-22T14:05:54Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Cute and well written story OP. Though I did catch the sneak bragging about being a “very tempting rape target”. Just thought it’d be funny, not a sneak brag. Definitely no one wanting to rape me. Plus I have very aggressive counter-rape attack plans. > [@](#): > > IIRC true “quicksand” is a special thing. Its just not muck or mucky sand or soft sand that you sink into. Its sand that has some water flowing through it so that the grains are being separated slightly. Imagine a spring basin filled with sand and the spring flow being very low. Yeah, I guess it probably wasn’t, it was too dry. Although it was wetter at the bottom, fairly dry on top, and it seemed sort of like a non-Newtonian fluid where the harder you pushed at it the more it resisted, but it was probably just like a 3-4 foot deep pit of wet sandy muddy claylike goop. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/23 "2013-03-22T14:13:38Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Just thought it’d be funny, not a sneak brag. Definitely no one wanting to rape me. **Plus I have very aggressive counter-rape attack plans.**. bolding mine Well there GOES my vacation plan to take you on a personal tour of quicksand spots of the Deep South… ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/24 "2013-03-22T19:10:59Z")
You’re a funny guy SenorBeef. Glad to see you stopped playing Planetside for a while and went outside. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/25 "2013-03-22T20:19:17Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > bolding mine > > Well there GOES my vacation plan to take you on a personal tour of quicksand spots of the Deep South… I don’t know. Quicksand in the deep south does sound really romantic. > [@control-z](#): > > You’re a funny guy SenorBeef. > > Glad to see you stopped playing Planetside for a while and went outside. 😃 Every once in a while I do way more exercise than I can handle, and then the crippling soreness and pulled muscles give me no choice but to spend the next 2 days playing planetside. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/26 "2013-03-22T20:25:10Z")
And to think, you damn near lost a $400 hand cart… ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/27 "2013-03-22T21:14:39Z")
One of the grad students in the geotechnical department at UIUC built a large quicksand tank that we used for the annual “engineering open house”. It was about 8 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide with a clear front. Fill it up with sand, pump water into the bottom at the right hydraulic gradient and presto - real live quicksand. I took a turn as the “victim” - put on a wetsuit and hop into the tank (we used warm water). You float like a cork - quicksand is basically a very dense fluid. It’s quite comfortable, I spent several hours in there. As a demonstration of the bouyant force we tried to push me under - I pushed against the sides of the tank and the (very large) grad student put his weight on my shoulders while standing on a ladder, we could barely get my chin into it. We also had a small tank next to the big one with a set of rubber boots. A visitor would put on the boots and stand on the sand with the water turned off. We’d turn on the faucet and tell them to wiggle their toes, their feet would drop to the bottom of the sand. Turn off the water and the quicksand solidified immediately, they could lean pretty far backward and their feet would stay locked in place. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/28 "2013-03-22T21:29:53Z")
Great story! This is, more or less, what happens when nerds go outside their natural habitat. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/29 "2013-03-22T21:37:26Z")
I’m not a nerd, and I don’t think “stepping on an area that looks exactly like the sand I’ve been walking on for the last 50 feet” is some great mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/30 "2013-03-23T00:08:53Z")
So much for a joke? We talked on Steam. You didn’t seem like such a wet blanket then. /shrug ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/31 "2013-03-23T00:12:27Z")
Wet blankets are scary. I’ve been afraid of getting trapped in wet objects ever since I got stuck in quicksand this one time. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/32 "2013-03-23T01:30:26Z")
You got out? Curses! Foiled ag–um, glad to see you got out. Yes. That’s it. Happy. Ahem. What? ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/33 "2013-03-23T01:49:08Z")
What kind of bird were you after? I’ve seen mud puddles slightly foam in rain before. My guess is the white stuff is just some sediment in the dirt that floats. But go straight to the ER if your finger glows in the dark now. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/34 "2013-03-23T01:51:48Z")
Seriously though, glad to see you survived your Indiana Jones moment. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/35 "2013-03-23T03:56:20Z")
With my luck, if that happened to me in Vegas I would’ve stayed in Vegas. For maybe 2,000 years when I’d be found like some beaker-trader bog man. I’m amazed at the wash ‘n’ wear Pentax (and the Afghanistan video). Were there no footprints of a gigantic hound? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/36 "2013-03-23T07:19:27Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Wet blankets are scary. I’ve been afraid of getting trapped in wet objects ever since I got stuck in quicksand this one time. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/37 "2013-03-23T19:39:49Z")
That looks more like mud than quicksand. Not that getting stuck in mud is any fun… I once helped get a neighbor’s donkey out of the mud - even with 4 people, it wasn’t easy, and the poor thing as exhausted when we finally succeeded. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/38 "2013-03-23T20:15:08Z")
The things some people do just to have a good tale to tell the Dope! (seriously though, glad you’re okay dude) ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/39 "2013-03-23T22:02:11Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Were there no footprints of a gigantic hound? Actually, I don’t get your reference, but there were unusually large paw prints in the sand. I was wondering what it was - it didn’t seem like someone walking their dog because there weren’t shoeprints around, but it definitely looked canine and fairly large. I thought maybe where some coyotes came down to drink. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508/40 "2013-03-24T15:43:38Z")
[**The Hound of the Baskervilles**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hound_of_the_Baskervilles) (Wiki link), a Sherlock Holmes story involving a huge dog and quicksand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-trapped-in-quicksand/653508.md?page=3)