Emily Smirle wrote:
There's a problem with assuming that "people float, therefore their
density must be 1.0-ish".
People *FLOAT*, therefore they are less dense than water. Things that
are AS DENSE as water are neutrally boyant, and do not float. Nor do
they sink.
Humans, on the other hand, bob around at the surface for approximate
values of "surface" due to varying density between say, the upper
torso (full of lungs) vs lower torso (interesting variations in fat
distribution) vs limbs (lack of sinuses, digestive tract, OR lungs) vs
head (sinuses, the void of the mouth and throat, etc).
All the numbers I have suggest that humans have a density roughly
around 0.75 kg/liter or 47 lbs/cu. fo. and this certainly seems
consistent with observed behavior, along with being comfortably in the
"denser than many types of wood, but less dense than notoriously dense
woods" range.
People who exhale often sink, or are neutral in boyancy. I probably
wouldn't now (too much fat), but certainly used to do this, and one on
my cousins, being unusually lean, was denser than water even with a
lungful of air.
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