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Could humans realistically do something similar by grabbing on to one another with arms extended out (imagine three people, A onto B and C, B onto A and C, and
by tabeth 9y ago
Could humans realistically do something similar by grabbing on to one another with arms extended out (imagine three people, A onto B and C, B onto A and C, and so forth). People have been able to do some crazy things, like these ants, under the right circumstances.
It's always so sad to see people drown. It would be neat if we could create an emergency human raft in such desperate times in a pinch.
- QAPereo 9y agoSadly no, the area/volume/power relationships are wrong, a bit like people flying by flapping hard enough. We also lack exoskeletal structures, so we'd be crushed.
- tabeth 9y agoI was thinking something more of the lines of length/width than height (in the case of the ants). Though, I feel your point applies there as well.
- NathanKP 9y agoThe ants are small enough and light enough that they float because of surface tension. These ant rafts operate on a similar effect to how Gerridae (pond skaters) walk on the water's surface: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerridae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerridae The human body is far too dense and large for surface tension based floating to work. Humans can survive reasonably long times in water by employing the Dead Man's Float though.
- yourapostasy 9y agoNo, and not even in the Dead Sea [1], unless they start with linked arms on shore, walk into that sea, and link legs as soon as they can, so they all face upwards. [1] http://io9.gizmodo.com/5798844/why-so-many-people-drown-in-the-dead-sea http://io9.gizmodo.com/5798844/why-so-many-people-drown-in-t...
- patch_collector 9y agoThat is a recommended form if everyone has life preservers on (especially if you have small children -- they float in the middle of the group), but like the others have said, without additional flotation devices, it doesn't work.