Can We Boat on Liquids Besides Water?

Whether you’re a swimmer, boater, surfer, or all of the above, your fun on the water depends on, well… the water! But is it possible to do these activities in other types of liquid?

It’s a whimsical question—especially since it’s unlikely that you’ll ever come across a lake full of syrup, paint, or any other liquid besides water—but it’s one we’re asking anyway! Take a look at the surprising science in today’s blog.

Could you…

Swim in syrup?

If you have a sweet tooth, you may have wondered about diving head first into a pool of this sugary treat. Would you be able to swim at all, or would the oozy sweetness of the syrup slow you down? You don’t need to wonder—in 2009, the MythBusters tested it out for you!

The famous group—noted for their hands-on research methods in confirming (or “busting”) commonly held beliefs—dove into a pool of syrup to see how fast they could swim in it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they moved very slowly in high-viscosity (or especially thick) syrup, but did better when the syrup was switched to a light variety, moving as little as 2.8 percent slower than they did in the pure water. So while the sticky syrup might slow your swim, it perhaps isn’t as impossible as it looks!

Boat through mercury?

You would never want to boat through mercury, since the “quicksilver” element is notoriously toxic—but we can imagine anyway! Because mercury is so dense, it would be almost too easy for you (or a boat, or a number of other objects) to float on the surface without much traction or control over your maneuvers in the water.

Splash around in superfluid helium?

You probably know helium as the elements that gives party balloons their buoyancy—but at extremely cold temperatures (colder than any you’d actually experience on Earth), helium takes on a superfluid form. In this state, the liquid helium can actually form a thin film and “crawl” its way up an object thanks to its capillary forces (the fluid’s natural tendency to flow in a narrow shape) overtaking gravity itself! It would be a sight to see—but not necessarily one you’d like to experience.

These scenarios may not be feasible, but they are fun to think about! In the end, however, we’re glad to have lakes, rivers and oceans filled with water worth jumping right into.