Why do they say that drowning comes faster in fresh water than in salt water?

Answer 1

Apart from the higher bouyancy of salt water; there is another factor: Salt water does not freeze untilit is about minus 5 degrees C. If a person is submerged in saltwater, there is more likelihood of them surviving and being revived, because the body is colder. Also, submersion in cold water causes an effect called the 'mamillian diving response', which shuts down the breathing system, so that the lungs do not fill up with fluid (which is an essential response in marine animals such as seals).

Answer 2

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RE:
Why do they say that drowning comes faster in fresh water than in salt water?

Answer 3

a person immersed in either salt or fresh water will drown in about the same time.

However, people tend to float much better in salty water than in fresh water. Anything floating in water is held up by a force we call buoyancy. Basically, buoyancy is caused by the difference in density between the water and an object floating in it.
Salty water is more dense than fresh water - it has a bunch of salt dissolved in it, so its weight per unit volume is higher. That makes the difference in density between a person and the water they're floating in larger, and makes them more buoyant (they'll float higher in the water). This is somewhat noticeable in the ocean, but is particularly apparent in very salty water, such as is found in The Dead Sea, or the Great Salt Lake in Utah. In both of those lakes the water is so salty that a person will float on the surface very easily (in fact, if one swam below the surface that buoyancy force would cause them to float back to the surface as soon as they stopped swimming).

So, although a person will not drown faster in fresh or salt water, it's much harder for that to happen in salty water.

Answer 4

Not necessarily true, but the idea is probably based on the fact that salt water is more buoyant than fresh water. The salt has the effect of lifting you higher out of the water than fresh water.

Answer 5

Salt water is more dense so you are more buoyant (hence, it is harder to sink). I wouldn't normally think that the difference is that great, but I have done a lot of training (in the Marines) and had many opportunities to float with my cloths on in both a pool and the ocean, and it was definitely easier in the ocean (easier to float in salt water... hence, easier to drown in fresh water). hopes that helps.

Answer 6

The more dense salt water causes things to float better.

Answer 7

Probably because you can't stay up as long in fresh water as you can in salt water. Basically, you have more buoyancy in salt water.

Answer 8

saltwater is more dense than fresh water therefore the amount of saltwater you have to displace in order to float is less than that of fresh water. the same principle applies to quicksand. you actually float about half way up your body in quicksand but since you cant get out, you die of dehydration, starvation, and exposure.

Answer 9

Because salt water is a more buoyant fluid, since it is more dense.

Answer 10

salt water is denser than fresh water.