Most of us usually think why a dead body floats on water even when that person is alive he/she fears of sinking.We hear in news channel that when a ship sinks or an aeroplane crashes into the sea, bodies appear on water and are pushed towards seashore instead going downwards to seabed.
We researched this topic through browsing many research papers and found many reasons for a person floating after losing life in the water.
When a person swims on water, he tries to keep himself on the surface to survive. When he breathes, water may take place of oxygen and enter his lungs. Obviously when there is no oxygen, no living thing can survive. When the person is dead his body sinks.
There are three reasons, why a person floats on water:
First reason: When a person dies the bacteria in his body, start eating it and the chest gets cavity. Then many gasses are produced such as methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide in order to float the body on the water.
Second reason: When the dead body sinks in water, it is attracted downwards by the gravitational force. When the upthrust force starts acting on the dead body, it pushes it upwards and brings the dead body on the surface of the water.
Third reason: When the dead body floats, it can also happen due to density of the body. If the dead body is less dense than the density of the water it may float on water.
The dead body may stay on the surface for two weeks, but after that it would again sink on the water and the sea creatures may carry out the decomposition process. If the body reaches to the seashore, absolutely it will be discovered and buried, but it only depends on the waves of water.
The reason for not staying on the water surface for two long is because of the gases in the body, like methane, would be finished from the body and the water would again enter the body. Then the body would sink to the seashore.
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