Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Rheology

Liquefaction of quicksand under stress

Nature volume 437, page 635 (2005)Cite this article

A person trapped in salt-lake quicksand is not in any danger of being sucked under completely.

Abstract

People or animals caught in quicksand find it very hard to escape1. 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.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Rheological and mechanical determination of quicksand properties.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lambe, T. W. & Whitman, R. V. Soil Mechanics (Wiley, New York, 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Van Olphen, H. J. An Introduction to Clay Colloid Chemistry (Wiley, New York, 1977).

  3. Coussot, P., Nguyen, Q. D., Huynh, H. T. & Bonn, D. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 175501 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Huang, N. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 028301 (2005).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Lohse, D., Rauhé, R., Bergmann, R. & van der Meer, D. Nature 432, 689–690 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Ferroir, T., Huynh, H. T., Chateau, X. & Coussot, P. Phys. Fluids 16, 594–601 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Batchelor, G. K. An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1967).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, Amsterdam, 1018 XE, The Netherlands

    A. Khaldoun, G. H. Wegdam & Daniel Bonn

  2. HIMS, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1018 XE, The Netherlands

    E. Eiser

  3. Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, 75231 Cedex 5, France

    Daniel Bonn

Authors
  1. A. Khaldoun
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. E. Eiser
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. G. H. Wegdam
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Daniel Bonn
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Bonn.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Khaldoun, A., Eiser, E., Wegdam, G. et al. Liquefaction of quicksand under stress. Nature 437, 635 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/437635a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/437635a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing