# Why can't I sink? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 14, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-sink/727851 "2015-08-14T16:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-sink/727851/21 "2015-08-18T02:16:29Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Scuba divers wear weights to counter their natural buoyancy. I’m always embarrassed by the amount of weights I have to use. I’ve not dived since losing more than 80 pounds, so I can’t wait to see if I no longer need 30 kg of weights to sink. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-sink/727851/22 "2015-08-18T23:42:41Z")
> [@Cabin\_Fever](#): > > What is a MacGuffin? > Why would somebody want to catch one? > Are there McGuffins out there, are they related in some way? > Fight The Ignorance! 🙂 A McGuffin or MacGuffin is a plot device in a book or movie. We might be reading a story about how well grude barbecues. A character in the book put grude’s phone in a waterproof bag with a rock and throw it into the pool in order to watch the attempted retrieval. It has nothing to do with the overall plot but it is entertaining to watch him panic and try to dive to the bottom of the pool. It also succeeds in adding a few hundred words to the story. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-sink/727851/23 "2015-08-19T20:09:35Z")
That’s just silly. Why would you throw a [plot device](http://cdn.instructables.com/F6T/C6SS/HLSH97EV/F6TC6SSHLSH97EV.LARGE.jpg) in the water anyway? Wouldn’t that ruin the electronics? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-sink/727851/24 "2015-08-20T17:34:54Z")
I have the opposite problem- I can’t float. I just sort of hang out slightly subsurface. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-sink/727851/25 "2015-08-20T20:24:51Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > I have the opposite problem- I can’t float. I just sort of hang out slightly subsurface. Same with me, even with a full breath of air and holding my breath for 60 seconds to prove that I was fully inhaled. My partner always complains that I can’t swim or tread water very well- but I tend to be neutrally buoyant about 2 feet submerged in “swimming-temp” water but if I got below that, I rapidly sink to the bottom (presumably due to further compression of my lungs). Such that if I jump into a pool, I don’t come up naturally. I should add that while I’m in good physical shape, I have a BMI well into the 30s so the ability to float is not just a shape related thing. I literally cannot fathom how one can’t sink- I was just playing in the pool with my kids yesterday and was able to push two air-filled (women’s? size) basketballs to the bottom (12’) simply by kicking with my feet and pushing one ball in each hand. Rather than doing a breast-stroke to go down, I recommend doing a pike dive from the surface. Lie face down, bend at the waist to aim your arms+head downward, and after you starting moving downward flip, or straighten, your legs up into the air to give you a gravity push down into the water. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-sink/727851.md?page=1)