I have always wondered what would happen if a person was kept in water indefinately. Not submerged but up to their shoulders so they could breathe and eat, like in a swimming pool. Oh and the water is at a decent warm temperature. Would they eventually die or get ill?
2007-05-25 10:12:36 · 10 answers · asked by Solid 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
This actually happened once, I saw it on the Discovery Channel. It turns out that your skin can peel off and your foot would rot until it came off if you left your foot in water for a couple of days.
2007-05-25 10:22:08 · answer #1 · answered by oongaang 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you've ever soaked in the bath tub for a long time, you will have noticed that your skin begins to wrinkle, and you start feeling thirsty. That's osmosis. Osmosis occurs when a liquids (in this case your body fluids and the bath water) are separated by a semi-permeable membrane (your skin), and there is a movement from the area of high concentration (your body) to an area of lower concentration (your bath tub). After an extended period of time, you will dehydrate. This will happen much faster in salty water where you won't be able to drink the water to replenish the water lost.
2007-05-25 10:28:00 · answer #2 · answered by MikeG 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I imagine like in low/no gravity situations there would be muscle issues eventually from the body not bearing weight...also the skin would become well beyond wrinkly/puckered as it gets when we're in water for a while...
My guess would be that it wouldn't be a healthy situation at all. We weren't designed for long term stays in water.
2007-05-25 10:21:13 · answer #3 · answered by . 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The only effect would be skin abrasions, my only proof is one of my favorite magicians David Blaine. Which stayed in water for a long period of time, he was also able to eat and breathe.
2007-05-25 16:23:06 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
wrinkles like a shar-pei puppy
We are not designed to be underwater like that, I imagine it would seriously dissolve our skin. We would get very ill and eventually die. Hypothermia...dehydration...
2007-05-25 10:27:31 · answer #5 · answered by xthomasmurrayx 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can always starve, and it is not easy to sleep while standing up. Also, I hope the pool has a good clean-up facility.
2007-05-25 10:17:13 · answer #6 · answered by cattbarf 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well i've heard that ur skin will start to peel off, and salt water could make that happen faster.
2007-05-25 10:19:39 · answer #7 · answered by **tu<3nina** 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they would look like a rasin and be all burning and cut up after like 6 hours.
2007-05-25 10:22:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They would slowly (painfully) dissolve.
2007-05-25 10:20:38 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
skin would dissolve.
2007-05-25 10:21:00 · answer #10 · answered by Luke V 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋