Why will drinking 6 liters of water in 3 hours kill you?
In: Biology
Let’s imagine two extremes:
* if you drink 6 liters of water gradually over 72 hours, that’s easily fine. That might even be a healthy about to drink depending on your lifestyle and the weather.
* if I pump 6 liters of water into your stomache in a micro second, your stomach might suddenly burst. If we do it a bit slower to give you *some* time to digest, then a lot of water goes into your blood, drastically diluting the chemicals in your bloodstream, chemicals that your body needs to function.
So, as we go from 0 hours, and 72 hours, the act of drinking 6 liters of water changes:
* from being violently dangeorus as (your blood fails and/or organs burst open)
* to being totally safe (you pleasantly and calmly avoid dehydration).
3 hours is on the fast end of that scale, so it is not surprising that it is very dangerous.
–
For a point of comparsion, you have 5-6 liters of blood. That is the amont of circulating liquid your body is used to.
Suddenly putting in 6 more liters is going to tough for your body to deal with.
Latest Answers