Basically, quicksand is saturated sand whose sand grains are so loose that they can slide past each other when pressure/agitation is applied. So, in order to make quicksand, you need to have sand that is loose and saturated.
Here are several methods to try:
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One way is if you have a hose handy in an area where the ground is sand. Simply tie some weight on to the end of the hose, turn the water all the way on, and simply blast the water straight into the ground, pushing the hose deeper in, and letting the weight pull it down until the desired depth is reached. The water may tend to upwell close the hose. Therefore, you have to turn the water off and let the sand settle around the hose, and then turn it back on. Once water is coming up to the surface, you have instant quicksand! |
| Another method, which should also work in other soils, is to simply dig a hole in the ground, deposit the hose in the bottom, fill it back in loosely with the soil, or if it is the wrong type or filled with rocks, some soil from elsewhere. You turn the hose on until everything is saturated. You could use sand to refill the hole instead of dirt. Then, it is easier to re-soften the pit for later sinks, since the original soil would tend to harden as it dries out. If you do use the original soil, you would have to mix water with it at regular intervals to keep it from getting hard in the first place, a task that could be quite fun! It may also be an idea to line the pit with some sort of liner to prevent water from draining out of the mud. Also, if you use the original soil or clay, it may be more desirable to mix the mud a little at a time, either in the pit or outside the pit, pouring it in. Having the stuff on the bottom thinner, with progressively thicker stuff higher up would produce the best results. |  |
At the beach, you can create a quicksand pit quite easily, although not necessarily as deep. What you do in this case is have a hole with water seeping in, filled with sand that is very loose and unpacked, with moisture content such that the grains are just able to stick together. Too much moisture makes them heavier, making it difficult to create a loose, porous mixture. Dry sand grains won't stick together at all, and therefore would fall and settle into a packed formation. When the moisture content is just right, the sand grains can stick together loosely, with lots of air spaces between them, which can then fill with water, turning it to quicksand.
You first pick a spot where the level of the ground is close to
the water level, but not too close. Too low, and the hole might
not be dug that deep before the sides collapse, or even some
waves might wash over the top, causing the sand to settle. Too
high, and the upper sand will never become saturated, making it
difficult to tell when it has reached its maximum saturation,
but then if it isn't too high, you still might be able to sink,
but the quicksand will be quite thick and cakey, and you may have
to pump your legs a bit to help you sink.
Before the hole is dug, you have to scrape up sand
into a pile beside where the hole will be. The moisture content
of the sand has to be such that it can be dropped into a loose,
fluffy mixture, as described above. Basically, what you do is
scrape off the dry sand from the beach away from the water until
you come to the slightly moist sand, which is slightly darker
than the dry sand, but lighter than the wet sand by the water.
You then gather the sand into a pile beside where the hole is going to be dug,
of the appropriate size needed to fill it in afterwards.
Through experience, you can anticipate the size of the hole you
are going to dig, and therefore the amount of fluffy sand you need to pile up beforehand.
I dug a hole by hand around 1� to 2 feet
across, and around 1 foot deep, perhaps deeper, before the sides
started caving in.
Next, you start digging the hole as
quickly as you can, to dig it as deeply as possible before the
seeping water starts to make the sides cave in. As soon as the
sides of the hole start to crack and are about to collapse, you must
quickly push the pile of loose sand into the hole until it is
filled, levelling it off, taking care not to compress it. If the top
is around water level, you
might have to make it infinitessimally higher than the rest of the
ground, but not much, because there is some slight shrinkage.
Then you wait. I can't remember how long it takes, but the
surface will start to dry out, and look somewhat whiter, but
then eventually, you will start to see the surface darken,
cracks appear around the edges of the quicksand pool, and the
center will sink slightly.
Finally, the sand will start to
glisten as water makes it to the surface, starting in the center
and around the cracks on the sides and spreading across the
entire surface, a sign that the loose sand is finally saturated
with water all the way to the top. It is then ready to jump into!
Of course, if you use a shovel for digging the hole, you can dig faster, making it
deeper and wider, forcing you to pile a larger amount of the
loose sand beforehand, and enjoying a deeper sink afterward.
Finer sand produces better results than coarser sand due to
better porosity for smaller sand grains that stick together. But
once you jump in, the quicksand will quickly start to settle and
turn into ordinary sand with water on top. Have fun the next
time you are at the beach!!!