[gurps] Golem volume

[Rupert Boleyn]

Emily Smirle wrote:
> There's a problem with assuming that "people float, therefore their 
> density must be 1.0-ish".
>
> People *FLOAT*, therefore they are less dense than water. Things that 
> are AS DENSE as water are neutrally boyant, and do not float. Nor do 
> they sink.
>
> Humans, on the other hand, bob around at the surface for approximate 
> values of "surface" due to varying density between say, the upper 
> torso (full of lungs) vs lower torso (interesting variations in fat 
> distribution) vs limbs (lack of sinuses, digestive tract, OR lungs) vs 
> head (sinuses, the void of the mouth and throat, etc).
>
> All the numbers I have suggest that humans have a density roughly 
> around 0.75 kg/liter or 47 lbs/cu. fo. and this certainly seems 
> consistent with observed behavior, along with being comfortably in the 
> "denser than many types of wood, but less dense than notoriously dense 
> woods" range.
>
People who exhale often sink, or are neutral in boyancy. I probably 
wouldn't now (too much fat), but certainly used to do this, and one on 
my cousins, being unusually lean, was denser than water even with a 
lungful of air.