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You really don't even have to know what you are doing to stay safe there. It takes deliberate stupidity to leave the walkway and get out onto one of those thin crust calderas.
Originally Posted by Unsettomati Annie Franklin of Minnesota said it was "a pretty lame dive, lacking any grace, but the type of dive a man desperate to get his brain back from a boiling dog would do."
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Originally Posted by Albert_The_Crocodile
?????
What an odd thing to say...
Yah, she was probably in near shock herself. It's not pretty to be so graphically reminded that humans are fragile after all. The results of the burns on human skin are like what was reported about Japanese survivors of the atomic bombs in WWII - the immediate flash burns. The skin simply peels off. After witnessing that, I doubt that I would make much sense myself, in the immediate aftermath - & I consider myself not to be squeamish.
He died, and according to the park, there is nothing left of his body to recover.
The water there is over 450 degrees farenheit - water boils at 212 degrees - and has the same ph levels as battery acid... meaning that his body and bones more or less boiled in acid until it dissolved.
Nice one, dude!!
*****Warning, engineer nerd vent*****
Water at 450 degrees farenheit is called steam. You cannot have a pool of water exist at 450 degrees at atmospheric pressure on the earth's surface.
At the elevation of Yellowstone water boils at about 199 degrees farenheit and so he fell into boiling 199 F water. The acidity of the pool was said to be about 2. That's similar to lemon juice. Acidic certainly, but not enough to dissolve a body.
What happened is the flesh would quickly fall off the bone and both it and the bones would sink. There are thermal features in Yellowstone with animal bones in them because even animals sometimes make this same type of mistake. What's left of the young man is at the bottom of the pool, in pieces, and simply not recoverable.
Water at 450 degrees farenheit is called steam. You cannot have a pool of water exist at 450 degrees at atmospheric pressure on the earth's surface.
At the elevation of Yellowstone water boils at about 199 degrees farenheit and so he fell into boiling 199 F water. The acidity of the pool was said to be about 2. That's similar to lemon juice. Acidic certainly, but not enough to dissolve a body.
"On Wednesday, park officials said parts of the basin area could remain closed as rangers completed their investigation. Norris Geyser Basin is the oldest and hottest of the park’s thermal areas, and below-surface temperatures have reached up to 459 degrees."
(My emphasis - more detail @ the URL)
So, if the water is under pressure (from steam filling up any void between the subterranean fluid & the surface, & the steam not escaping fast enough to relieve the pressure, or simply the water filling any available space), I assume that the water doesn't change state. I also wonder about the composition of the water - other articles note the presence of poisonous vapors & possibly methane - decomposition or thermal cracking by-products? - which could potentially asphyxiate the unwary too. The water's composition might also affect the boiling point. Your calculations for boiling point @ altitude assume that the water is exposed to open air, right?
But I do like the vent part. Please don't be discouraged, once upon a time I copyedited text. Most of it not as interesting as this case. There's always something to learn - in this case, a very healthy respect for warning signs @ national parks.
"On Wednesday, park officials said parts of the basin area could remain closed as rangers completed their investigation. Norris Geyser Basin is the oldest and hottest of the park’s thermal areas, and below-surface temperatures have reached up to 459 degrees."
(My emphasis - more detail @ the URL)
So, if the water is under pressure (from steam filling up any void between the subterranean fluid & the surface, & the steam not escaping fast enough to relieve the pressure, or simply the water filling any available space), I assume that the water doesn't change state. I also wonder about the composition of the water - other articles note the presence of poisonous vapors & possibly methane - decomposition or thermal cracking by-products? - which could potentially asphyxiate the unwary too. The water's composition might also affect the boiling point. Your calculations for boiling point @ altitude assume that the water is exposed to open air, right?
But I do like the vent part. Please don't be discouraged, once upon a time I copyedited text. Most of it not as interesting as this case. There's always something to learn - in this case, a very healthy respect for warning signs @ national parks.
Hardly discouraged, I can promise you a chemical engineer who has spent months in Yellowstone knows more about the park thermal features than a copy editor.
He fell into a pool at the surface of the earth. That pool (of water) is not 459 degrees F. When they talk about 459 degrees F they're talking about temperatures measured in STEAM vents. As a copy editor I would think you should be able to understand that the below surface temperature says nothing about water temperatures. Steam by its very definition has reached temperatures greater than the boiling point. At very deep locations beneath the surface of the earth the water can be over that 199 F number because it is under pressure, but that's not where he fell in. Minerals can change the boiling point of the water but barely. The way I described it is exactly the situation.
Water at 450 degrees farenheit is called steam. You cannot have a pool of water exist at 450 degrees at atmospheric pressure on the earth's surface.
I was wondering why no one was noticing this.
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At the elevation of Yellowstone water boils at about 199 degrees farenheit and so he fell into boiling 199 F water. The acidity of the pool was said to be about 2. That's similar to lemon juice. Acidic certainly, but not enough to dissolve a body.
I did not know the details of the acidity - thank you for that.
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What happened is the flesh would quickly fall off the bone and both it and the bones would sink. There are thermal features in Yellowstone with animal bones in them because even animals sometimes make this same type of mistake. What's left of the young man is at the bottom of the pool, in pieces, and simply not recoverable.
My understanding is that many of the springs in Yellowstone are very deep - tens of feet, in some cases over one hundred feet deep. One can see how that would make recovery of remains very impractical, if not impossible.
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Dumb or not, it's a terribly sad situation.
Thank you again. The idea that death is deserved for this mistake, no matter how dumb, is a pretty vicious sentiment.
I think a certain percentage of park visitors have always done stupid stuff. We just see it more now partly because many more people visit the parks, and partly because of social media.
True.......years ago, my family knew a lot of Yellowstone park Rangers. Peeps used to throw trash into geysers all the time. If able to get them safely, the Rangers would get the trash. We were given a green soda bottle (old fashioned 70s glass) that had been in a very warm spot, but not enough it melted....but it had turned the see-thru glass this amazing opaque green!
True.......years ago, my family knew a lot of Yellowstone park Rangers. Peeps used to throw trash into geysers all the time. If able to get them safely, the Rangers would get the trash.
There have been several thermal features in the park that have been severely damaged as a result of people tossing trash into them. The most famous is probably Morning Glory Pool. It got its name because of its beautiful blue color which, given its shape, made the pool resemble a morning glory flower. But unfortunately the main park road used to pass very close to Morning Glory Pool, and visitors threw trash in it. The Park Service eventually rerouted the road, and they did attempt to clean the trash out, but the damage was done. The trash has partially clogged the vent, slowing the circulation of water in the pool. With less hot water flowing in, the water temperature in Morning Glory Pool cooled enough to allow bacteria to grow, and the once-blue pool is now mostly yellow/orange and green.
Again: if you visit a national park, follow the rules! They are there to protect your safety, and also to protect the park so future visitors will be able to enjoy it as much as you did.
"On Wednesday, park officials said parts of the basin area could remain closed as rangers completed their investigation. Norris Geyser Basin is the oldest and hottest of the park’s thermal areas, and below-surface temperatures have reached up to 459 degrees."
(My emphasis - more detail @ the URL)
So, if the water is under pressure (from steam filling up any void between the subterranean fluid & the surface, & the steam not escaping fast enough to relieve the pressure, or simply the water filling any available space), I assume that the water doesn't change state. I also wonder about the composition of the water - other articles note the presence of poisonous vapors & possibly methane - decomposition or thermal cracking by-products? - which could potentially asphyxiate the unwary too. The water's composition might also affect the boiling point. Your calculations for boiling point @ altitude assume that the water is exposed to open air, right?
Any pool of water that the man fell into must - by definition - have been exposed to the open air. And thus been no hotter than about 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Any water that was close enough to the surface for him to fall into would have been incapable of maintaining a temperature of 459 degrees, because there isn't enough pressure to keep it from changing from liquid phase to vapor phase. Liquid water at temperatures above the boiling point can only last a few seconds at the surface, and even then nowhere close to 450+ degrees.
I, also, couldn't understand why it was being reported that the man fell into 450 degree water. Sloppy reporting.
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It's a gruesome sight
