Imagine the image of water when you flush the toilet or when you remove the stopper from a bathtub full of water. Visualize it whirlpool of water and imagine yourself right in the middle. Scary, right? Well, unfortunately, these whirlpools can form naturally in bodies of water such as rivers, and many people accidentally fall into them. They don’t live to tell the tale.
IN IFLScience published an article on this topic to raise awareness of the importance of wearing a life jacket when engaging in water sports such as kayaking. They give the example of Stuart Fowlstone, a man who found himself in a whirlpool of water while traveling on a raft on the Zambezi River.
Fortunately, Stewart survived and told the story. However, the same cannot be said for many other people. Therefore, it is important to prevent, both by life jacket and also with good preliminary information about the currents in the place where the water activity will take place.
How is a water whirlpool formed?
Most whirlpools form when two opposing currents collide face to face. Unable to follow their course normally, they are forced to rotate around each other, forming this spiral structure.
A whirlpool can also form when water collides with letlike a stone. And finally yes underwater cave collapsesThe water moves quickly downwards, filling the gaps, creating a powerful whirlpool. This is the one that can most be compared to the one formed when removing the stopper from a bathtub.
The problem with these phenomena is that they generate excellent suctionwhich carries any object that falls inside down. Of course, this object must have adequate dimensions. A very small whirlpool of water cannot swallow a person, but a large one can. In fact, if it’s big enough, it can even suck up a boat.
Don’t forget your vest
There are more or less intense whirlpools, so the depth to which absorbing bodies are pushed and the time for which they are kept trapped vary greatly. For example, in the case of Fowlstone video from your GoPro They show he was underwater for 3 and a half minutes. He fell into a whirlpool after the raft he was traveling on capsized. Luckily, he was wearing a life jacket. Moreover, he tried hold an oar in your handso he held it as long as he could, so that his companions might find it.
Since it was impossible to completely relax, he tried to remain calm because if he kicked and struggled with the water, he would lose all his strength. oxygen he left and most likely he will not be able to defeat the spiral. Fortunately, the eddies lose their intensity as they reach the bottom, so when he reached the bed of the Stuart River, he was able to escape this terrible spiral. He did this already unconscious. But fortunately, thanks to his life jacket, he was able to surface, where a companion found him floating face down and still clinging to his oar.
This is a scary story, but with a happy ending. Stuart and his companions could not know what might have happened, although it is true that there are places where whirlpools are more common, since the constant and random movement of the currents makes it easier for the two to collide in opposite directions. Therefore, if you are going to engage in water sports, wear a life jacket and also Learn about the currents in this place. If you can save yourself from a nightmare, even better.
Source: Hiper Textual
