- Trending Categories
Data Structure
Networking
RDBMS
Operating System
Java
iOS
HTML
CSS
Android
Python
C Programming
C++
C#
MongoDB
MySQL
Javascript
PHP
- Selected Reading
- UPSC IAS Exams Notes
- Developer's Best Practices
- Questions and Answers
- Effective Resume Writing
- HR Interview Questions
- Computer Glossary
- Who is Who
Why a living person sinks and a dead person floats in water?
This might be one of the most confusing questions that have been bothering a common man. The general idea is that because a man is alive he can make himself stay above the water whereas a dead person has no abilities, therefore, he has to sink. But that isn't the case and there is a perfect explanation for this phenomenon.
Why a living person sinks?
A person only starts to sink into the water when the air in his lungs is replaced with water. Once the body is submerged under the water, then the body stays under the water until the bacteria in the gut and the cavity in the chest can produce enough gases such as methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide in order to float on the surface of the water like a balloon. The building up of these particular gases in a human body can take up to weeks sometimes, also depending on various other factors.
What happens when a person sinks?
When the body is submerged then it does not necessarily mean that all the body parts are inflated at the same time. First, the torso part of the body which consists of most of the bacteria get bloated more than the head and the limbs. The process of buoyancy comes into play now. The parts of the body which are most buoyant rise first, leaving the head and the limbs to be dragged from behind the chest and the abdomen. Since the limbs and the head can only drape forward from the body, the corpses tend to rotate such that the torso floats face-down with the arms and legs hanging under it.
Most of the dead bodies float this way, but there are also exceptions. The smaller the hands and legs are, then the more likely it is for the corpse to float facing up. If a body stays on the surface of the water for a long time then it will release the gas that been built up and then it will sink into the water once again. Decomposition continues underwater and then more and more gas is collected and the body may start floating again. This is also known as a “re-float” in terms of rescue workers.
- Related Questions & Answers
- What does culture teach a person?
- Why do muscle cramps occur frequently in athletes and sports person?
- What makes a person a champion at anything?
- Can a person die due to Anaemia?
- Position of a person diametrically opposite on a circle in C++
- Does a person really find true happiness within himself?
- Program to find number of possible position in n-person line with few person at front and back in Python
- How does understanding a person reflects the way we think?
- Do you think heart break makes you a better person?
- How much money and time does a person need for an World Tour?
- What does color pink and green describe about a person's personality?
- What qualities you will search in a person while making him a friend?
- C++ Program to find out if a person has won lottery
- What Is Key Person Insurance and How Does It Work?
- Who is the most accidentally famous person ever?