It was Archimedes, a Greek mathematician and physicist, who first postulated what is known today as the Archimedes Principle. And it’s in this principle he theorised, a body afloat in fluid is acted upon by an upwardly directed buoyancy force, which is equal to the weight of the fluid the body displaces.
Moreover, the postulation continues, if the body is completely submerged, the volume of the fluid displaced is equal to the volume of the body. Which in layperson terms means, if a body placed in water sinks, then the conclusion is, that body is denser than the water. On the other hand, if a body placed in water stays afloat, then the conclusion is, that body is less dense than the water.
Having said that, the human body of constituent muscles, skeleton, fluid and other bodily organs, is relatively denser when compared to water. And for this reason, guided by Archimedes Principle, if one is to set foot into a swimming pool, the likelihood is, sinking would be the inevitable outcome, unless buoyancy manoeuvres of the arms and legs are engaged.
Furthermore, again guided by Archimedes Principle, with the said person in the swimming pool, sinking would be of such until they settle at the bottom of the pool. That said, our body has an innate buoyancy mechanism in a pair of lungs, which when filled with air, decrease bodily density, making us more conducive to floating.
Now, recognising that someone in a swimming pool would’ve a predisposition to sink, unless supported through buoyancy manoeuvres of the arms and legs, we shall examine what eventuates when this fails vis-à-vis, drowning. Firstly, with the person submerged, there is an initial desperate attempt at holding their breath, which is overcome by gasping for air, and inhalation of large volume of water.
Secondly, again with the person submerged and panic at an optimum, more water is ingested into the stomach, even as laryngospasm exacerbates the stresses of the breathing process. Thirdly, by this time the person is tragically unconscious due to low oxygen levels, but with the body submerged, the skin being porous absorbs more water. And from these processes of large volume of water being ingested, inhaled and absorbed, the drowned body being of increased density relative to water, sinks to the bottom of the pool.
However, it’s well established that consequent to death, there is the process of decomposition, which entails the catalytic breakdown of the body tissues by saprophytic bacteria. And as these saprophytic bacteria undertake the decomposition process, they have as byproduct gases, which include hydrogen sulphide, methane, ammonia, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
Then, with these gases internally produced, they accumulate in the body, and in so doing causing it to become bloated, not dissimilar to an inflated balloon. Therefore, with the bloated body being of large volume accumulated gases, its density decreases relative to water, resulting in it rising from the bottom to the surface of the pool. But in time, with the bloated body further decomposing on the water surface, the trapped gases escape, resulting in the restoration of its increase density relative to water, and a final sinking of the body.
Thus, applying this unfailing science to Adrianna’s body, we immediately recognise, painfully so, an inexplicable anomaly of her being discovered afloat in the pool. However, this we are cognisant, the pool represents a large water volume, so if it were the site where Adrianna tragically drowned, then she would’ve ingested, inhaled and absorbed an extraordinarily large volume of water, rendering her of a greater density to water, eventuating in her sinking.
But that isn’t what we observed with Adrianna’s body, since apart from not being bloated as would be expected, it was afloat on the water surface, all in all defying the science. Therefore, the logical conclusion is, Adrianna didn’t drown in the large water volume pool, rather she was likely sedated and forced drowned in a smaller body of water, after which her body was deposited in the pool.
