Can we stand on the surface of the Dead Sea?

[touqra]

I know we can float on Dead Sea but can we stand on the surface of the Dead Sea?

 

[mezarashi]

You would need to define what you mean by "float". In fact, all objects that float are to a certain extent "sunk". Parts of their body are underwater (like a boat). To float in the layman dictionary just means that most of the object is still above water. Stand or lay on your back... some part of you is going under.

 

[James R]

If you're asking whether you can stand vertically with the water level below your waist in the Dead Sea, the answer is no (unless you're standing on the bottom in shallow water). In a vertical position, about 1/3 of your body will be above the water.

 

[Warr]

As you increase the salt concentration, the buoyancy becomes higher. So if the dead sea was completely made of salt..you can see what I am getting at. However no amount of salt short of ALL salt would allow you to do this, since there is a limit to how much salt can be dissolved per unit volume of water. After this the salt would simply sink to the bottom.

 

[e=mc^2]

The Dead Sea has a higher salt concentration than any other body of water on Earth and thus the name, "Dead Sea" because it is too salty for normal creatures to live in it.

I think that touqra already knew that the higher the salt content, the more buoyant you become and this is the reason for the original question.

As JamesR mentioned above, only about 1/3 of your body would be above water if you were to be placed vertically in a body of water; However, I think that since the salt content is much higher in the Dead Sea a person could theoretically have more than 1/3 of their body sticking out of the water.

I don’t live in the Middle East, but it would be interesting to find out from someone who lives near there exactly how much of a person would actually be seen above the water. Would it be a good percentage of the upper body (say from around the mid-stomach) and above?

Now enter the world of speculation and take a Zen Buddhist monk with you and see if he is able to enter into a meditative state and have him try it. I seriously doubt that he could pull it off, but it would be fun watching him try.

If he was able to manage more of his body above the water, like maybe from the waist up, I can see how an early Biblical writer might envision someone “walking on the water” if he were to view them from a distance.

I can also see how since the Book of Mathew was not written until about 40 or 50+ years after it was supposed to have been done… How someone might have “elaborated” on the report to make it appear more divine.

But as far as someone actually walking ON the water and just barely getting their sandals wet… Now that is a matter of faith – not science.

 

[johnw188]

As JamesR mentioned above, only about 1/3 of your body would be above water if you were to be placed vertically in a body of water; However, I think that since the salt content is much higher in the Dead Sea a person could theoretically have more than 1/3 of their body sticking out of the water.
I don’t live in the Middle East, but it would be interesting to find out from someone who lives near there exactly how much of a person would actually be seen above the water. Would it be a good percentage of the upper body (say from around the mid-stomach) and above?

See, the great thing about physics is, we don't need to actually travel to the dead sea to figure this out ;)

I haven't worked the calculations myself, but I believe James was giving the actual numbers for the dead sea.

 

[misskitty]

Now enter the world of speculation and take a Zen Buddhist monk with you and see if he is able to enter into a meditative state and have him try it. I seriously doubt that he could pull it off, but it would be fun watching him try.

What do you mean with the Zen Buddhist?

~Kitty