Why It's Impossible to Sink in the Dead Sea

Step into the Dead Sea and prepare for one of nature's most surreal experiences: you'll float like a cork, no effort required. But this isn't some tourist trick—it's pure physics.

The Dead Sea contains roughly 34% salt, making it about ten times saltier than the ocean. That translates to 342 grams of salt per kilogram of water. The result? Water so dense it has a specific gravity of 1.24 kg/L, compared to the human body's measly 1.0 kg/L.

Archimedes Knew What Was Up

Remember that ancient Greek mathematician who supposedly shouted "Eureka!" in his bathtub? His principle of buoyancy explains exactly why you can't sink in the Dead Sea. When you step into water, you displace a volume of that water equal to your body's volume. The denser the water, the more it weighs, and the more upward force (buoyancy) it exerts on you.

In regular water, your body is just slightly less dense than the water, so you have to work a bit to stay afloat. In the Dead Sea, the water is so much denser than you that it pushes you up with more force than gravity pulls you down. It's like trying to sink a beach ball in a pool—physically possible with effort, but it's fighting against you the whole way.

Not Just Table Salt

What makes the Dead Sea especially interesting is that it's not just loaded with sodium chloride (table salt). The mineral composition includes high concentrations of:

• Magnesium chloride – gives the water a silky, oily feel
• Calcium chloride – adds to the density
• Potassium chloride – part of the mineral-rich mix
• Bromide salts – believed to have therapeutic properties

These calcium and magnesium chlorides actually boost the water's density beyond what you'd get with just sodium chloride, making the Dead Sea even more buoyant than a simple salt solution would be.

The Reality Check

While it's "impossible" to sink in the casual sense, let's be precise: you can technically submerge yourself if you really try. Divers with weights can go down. But under normal circumstances, without equipment or deliberate force, your body will bob on the surface like a rubber duck.

In fact, swimming in the traditional sense becomes almost comically difficult. Your legs and torso want to rise to the surface, making it hard to stay upright or do any normal stroke. Most visitors end up in the iconic pose: reclined on their backs, reading a newspaper, looking completely relaxed while defying everything your brain knows about water.

Fair warning: The same salinity that makes you float will sting like hell if you have any cuts, and getting it in your eyes is an experience you'll want to avoid. The water is so harsh that almost nothing can live in it—hence the name "Dead" Sea.

As of 2025, the Dead Sea sits at 439.78 meters below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based point on Earth. It's been a natural wonder and tourist destination for thousands of years, and that physics-defying float remains as remarkable today as it was to ancient visitors.