Why would jumping in a swimming pool not save you from a tidal wave?
In: 4
Why would it? Tidal waves are very powerful and tend to sweep things out to sea on the wave’s out wash. So you are in the pool, the wave washes over you and tumbles you pretty good and then the out wash takes you out to sea. I’m not seeing any benefit.
I’m assuming you mean a tsunami, and it’s not really the water that’s gonna get you when a tsunami comes inland, it’s all the stuff the water is carrying. Cars, trees, houses, boulders – some intact, some smashed to pieces – rushing at you and slamming into the pool you dove in, and then just incorporating the pool water into the wave and detritus, pulling all of that water (and you) along with it as it continues to move ahead. But now you’re not in a pool filled with nice clean water – you’re in the midst of a fast moving wave packed with lots of heavy sharp things moving in all directions, slamming into whatever is ahead, ripping that from the ground and adding it to the mix. Take a look at this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxm050h0k2I) to get a sense of what happens when a tsunami hits a developed area.
I’m really curious to know how you think that might work. Can you breathe underwater?
You might intuitively think that a swimming pool would protect you from a large amount water because you have seen it be a barrier against a small amount of water. Perhaps it started raining when you were in the pool, and going under the surface stopped the drops from hitting you.
But there’s no magic that lets that effect scale up just because your barrier is made of water. Water is very heavy, and it gets very hard when moving at high speeds. A tsunami wave is not like a rain droplet. It’s like a ton of boulders crashing down on you. A swimming pool (or an umbrella) can protect you from a tiny rain droplet. Neither a swimming pool nor an umbrella could protect you from a ton of boulders, and the same is true of a tsunami. The energy of the falling water would be translated directly through the water in the pool, slamming you into the bottom.
If you have scuba gear and plenty of air and something to hold onto at the bottom of the pool it might save you. But it will be more the ground and the pool walls doing the saving than the water. You could still get hit by something heavy carried into the pool and dropping onto you. But the tsunami should rush over you. The tsunami water will mix with the pool water and dump debris but the earth will shield you from much of the violence. Just keep in mind a tsunami is not a quick wave that blows through and is gone. There will be lots of water and devastation above you for a long time. So bring lots of air.
Latest Answers