Rheology: liquefaction of quicksand under stress.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 16193035.
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Abstract
People or animals caught in quicksand find it very hard to escape. Here we show that quicksand acts as a trap because it becomes unstable when it is forced to move--first it liquefies, and then it collapses. But a simple sinking test demonstrates that it is impossible for a human to be drawn into quicksand altogether.