Dry Quicksand

chessie writes "Just in time for the holidays, new and improved quicksand! The new dry quicksand is a physical curiousity, made with air and sand instead of water with porewater pressure overcoming the density of sand . It is possible to vanish into a pile of completely dry sand as well. Worse, their sand looks the same as the normal, weight-supporting variety. Obviously, the US Army wants in on it."

Comments

Strange.

[BigZaphod]

I remember just a few weeks ago I was watching The Mummy on TV and there's the part where, after the big sand storm, the crashed airplane sinks in the sand. And I remember we sort of chuckled at that, but then I said, "Ya know, I don't see why quicksand would need water anyway. Air would probably work, too." And so, ya know, I just assumed that was known or something or I was completely wrong. And now this article comes out like it is some amazing new invention to use air to create quicksand.

I'm not really sure what my point is, but I felt I needed to share. I'm not sure if I should feel smart, like I reasoned myself to some fancy cutting-edge conclusion, or if this really isn't anything special and it is just someone's attempt to get some more money from the Army through publicity...

Favorite quote

[David Frankenstein]

Love the quote at the end...

"The U.S. Army is very interested in this," he said, "because these days, the U.S. Army tends to go to desert states."