Imagine selecting a hundred random people who do not know how to stay afloat and placing them on a deep pool. Most would expect the fat and heavy to sink while the fit stay afloat. The heavier rock, after all, does sink faster than a lighter one. But in reality, the fit and muscular group would be struggling just to keep their nose out of the water while the obese and heavy are comfortably afloat. Why did this happen? This paper explores the reason behind this and other examples while explaining how swimming is possible.
The human body's weight is 70% water. This is the biggest reason why swimming is actually possible. If humans tried to swim in something that's lighter than water, they would find themselves at the bottom no matter how hard they tried or how fat they are. If humans were to swim in something heavier than water, there would be no diving or deep swimming because going deeper would be almost impossible to do and maintain.
Muscles
Muscles!
MusclesVery salty water is an example of this; a person cannot sink in water with significant amount of salt (like the Dead Sea) because salt water is denser than normal water. If humans tried in anything other than water, their efforts were completely in vain. Swimming is defined as progressive movement in water. So, by definition, a person cannot swim in anything other than water. The rest of the 30% is the main cause of sinking and drowning. This 30% determines whether a person will find it difficult or easy to stay afloat without too much movement. The 30% is divided into fat and muscle. Muscle is denser than water; if Arnold Swarchenegger didn't know how to stay afloat, he would sink and drown very quickly because of his...