On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 4:08 PM, Rupert Boleyn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 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. Yes, I used to sink even with semi-inflated lungs (if I took in a deep breath I could float just under the surface) -- older and fatter now and haven't tried it in years. -- chuk _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
