![does quicksand exist does quicksand exist](https://cdn.britannica.com/s:300x500/78/195278-131-7324C228.jpg)
It is formed when water is trapped within a certain area within the right kind of material (sand, clay etc), if the water within the area cannot escape it effectively forms an underground pond filled with sand, and since the water is heavier than the sand, it often looks like normal dry sand on the surface. The sand becomes unstable due to the water content and so does not pack down when weight is applied like normal sand, but instead moves round the object swallowing it up.
![does quicksand exist does quicksand exist](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hAvTvK_ZLXI/maxresdefault.jpg)
It is simply sand, clay or silt that has been saturated by water, causing it to become more of a liquid than a solid.
#Does quicksand exist movie#
Most people who have been killed by quicksand have died from some other knock on effect from getting trapped, such as exposure or being trapped in a tidal area, so you can forget the movie effects of being sucked down into a bottomless pit that can swallow a person in seconds. The reason its so hard to drown after getting trapped is because quicksand is denser than the human body, which means that the deepest you can possibly sink is normally little past your waist. Having said that it is still responsible for the deaths of a good number of people, but the vast majority of these didn’t involve drowning in the sand itself. When people hear the word quicksand they normally picture some kind of death trap that will suck you under and drown you, but the reality is that quicksand isn’t anywhere near as dangerous as people think.