While a bodysuit may provide a hydrodynamic advantage over bare skin, I have not yet seen a discussion regarding the additional weight of using a bodysuit. More particularly, water infiltrates the suit and remains within the suit as you swim. That is, water infiltrates the structure of the textile and also gets trapped between the suit and your skin. As you move through the water, the energy you exert also has to move the water within the suit.
Let us look at some basic math: the average body surface area for a man is 1.9 meters squared (this is from an article in Wikipedia on body surface area, BSA), which equals 19,000 cm squared. If an average of only one millimeter of water is trapped by the suit (i.e., within the structure of the textile and between the suit and your body), then a volume of 1,900 cm cubed of water is being pulled along with you.
Given that water has a mass of approximately one gram per cm cubed, this adds 1900 extra grams to your body. This translates to about 4.2 pounds of extra weight that you have to pull through the water.
The question is: would you rather have slightly better hydrodynamics or lesser weight. Personally, I'll go for the lesser weight any day. Your thoughts?
Ande--
you say that FS material is thin and light. Do you mean FS Pro material, which I think is different from its I and II predecessors.
also, is it A) legal in competition to spray tent sealant (or any other material) on a swim suit? and B) have there been any studies that demonstrate this is an enhancement? If so, I can't believe that Speedo, Tyr, etc. wouldn't be promoting the bejesus out of "EZ Swim Spray (TM)" body suit coating mist.
my understanding from yesteryear investigations is that the forms of drag these suits cut are not surface drag (aka, skin friction)--in fact, the little sharkskin dermicles in the FS I suit actually increases friction (like the dimples on a golf ball). But that the other two forms of drag--eddy? form? wave? not sure the exact terms--are reduced so much more that the frictional increase is not important. I'm wondering if the tent sealant (or other slipperiness-inducing agents) has a positive role in the trio of drag forces here.
Perhaps our physicist colleagues will know the answers here.
Ande--
you say that FS material is thin and light. Do you mean FS Pro material, which I think is different from its I and II predecessors.
also, is it A) legal in competition to spray tent sealant (or any other material) on a swim suit? and B) have there been any studies that demonstrate this is an enhancement? If so, I can't believe that Speedo, Tyr, etc. wouldn't be promoting the bejesus out of "EZ Swim Spray (TM)" body suit coating mist.
my understanding from yesteryear investigations is that the forms of drag these suits cut are not surface drag (aka, skin friction)--in fact, the little sharkskin dermicles in the FS I suit actually increases friction (like the dimples on a golf ball). But that the other two forms of drag--eddy? form? wave? not sure the exact terms--are reduced so much more that the frictional increase is not important. I'm wondering if the tent sealant (or other slipperiness-inducing agents) has a positive role in the trio of drag forces here.
Perhaps our physicist colleagues will know the answers here.
