I never understood that concept since snow seems so dense and compact that it wouldn’t provide enough hydration in a life or death scenario. Wouldn’t it be a viable method?
In: Biology
You lose water when your body does work (through respiration). Only liquid water can be used/absorbed by your cells. If your body needs to do the work of melting snow so it becomes liquid, more water is lost through extra work done by your body to maintain body temperature when eating snow than is made available by melting snow internally. So eating snow literally dehydrates you further.
If you can get something else to melt snow (like a fire or focused sunlight), then melted snow (i.e., liquid water) will sustain hydration levels.
Your body needs to work harder to convert the snow to water. Snow is very cold, so you body has to heat the snow first before it’s turned to water.
There’s also the high chance of the snow being contaminated with bacteria, animal droppings, or any other contaminates.
In a survival situation it would be a bad idea to eat snow since it would drop your bodies temperature and potentially cause hypothermia.
You can however melt snow and purify it like any other water source.
[removed]
Snow is cold, your body is warm. Eating enough snow to stay hydrated would cause your core temperature to drop enough to cause problems.
Latest Answers