- Many of the passengers who found themselves in the freezing waters of the Atlantic would quickly have experienced reduced fine motor skills.
- After only 10 minutes immersion in very cold water, arms and legs would no longer have respond to messages sent from the brain.
- Being exposed to very cold temperatures would have affected the ability to solve and concentrate on simple tasks.
- The water on the night Titanic sank was below freezing (about -2*).
- The water was so cold that hardly anyone in the water survived for long.
Today as part of our ‘Unsinkable’ topic we explored the affect of cold water on our bodies. We completed a range of tasks such as,
- Tying a shoe lace.
- Writing a simple sentence.
- Screwing a nut and bold together.
- Recording a pulse.
- Building a tower of cubes.
We then plunged our hands into the icy waters and recorded the results. We we able to see how the cold affected our fine motor skills, heart rate and also our ability to complete simple tasks efficiently.
