Does anyone else ever have the perception that each pool has one direction that is "faster" than the other? I swear that this is true, but can't really imagine the physics of why it would be so. In particular, it seems to me that going from the deep end to the shallow end almost always seems "faster" than going from the shallow end into the deep end. I speak specifically of 25 yard pools with one end about 12 feet deep and the other end about 3-4 feet deep since I have little experience with anything else. In all cases, the water jets are symmetrical in placement and seem to be pushing out the same amount of water (roughly). These are also indoor pools, so there are no wind effects and we aren't talking about when the water buffalo...err... water aerobics people are creating tsunami in the shallow end.
Or am I crazy? (No cheap shots on that one.)
-LBJ
Originally posted by Kevin in MD
Competition pools are always over 6 feet deep for the olympics and such. This from the fact that folks did a test and found that at 6 feet, there is no disturbance at the bottom from swimming at the surface.
And this matters how? Drag. Apparently it's somethign to do with pressure waves bouncing back up off of the bottom of the pool. Really I don't remember the details but you can readily find out why world championship poolsare 5 feet plus.
There's absolutely no question that deep pools are faster. I'd be surprised if six feet is the cutouff for no disturbance, though. I would think it would be substantially more. Maybe ten feet or more.
Originally posted by Kevin in MD
Competition pools are always over 6 feet deep for the olympics and such. This from the fact that folks did a test and found that at 6 feet, there is no disturbance at the bottom from swimming at the surface.
And this matters how? Drag. Apparently it's somethign to do with pressure waves bouncing back up off of the bottom of the pool. Really I don't remember the details but you can readily find out why world championship poolsare 5 feet plus.
There's absolutely no question that deep pools are faster. I'd be surprised if six feet is the cutouff for no disturbance, though. I would think it would be substantially more. Maybe ten feet or more.
