What a fluke! British researcher Sir James Gray couldn’t believe what he observed: “a dolphin swimming around a ship at 33 feet per second for seven seconds.” How could that bottlenose dolphin swim so fast? Eventually, with the help of someone who studied Olympic swimmers they figured out a speed paradox that seemed to ignore the laws of physics. The flukes are essentially wings, said marine biologist Frank Fish. [They] generate a lift force that is directed forward, on both the upstroke and downstroke. This produces the thrust that pushes the dolphin through the water. The flukes are also flexible, which is key to enabling the dolphin to maintain a highly efficient way of swimming over a broad range of speeds.” That was our guess all along. If only we could get our legs to move like that.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 15:00:01 +0000
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