I have been studying videos of swimmers and find what was once called the "S" stroke has almost disappeard.
I have noticed that flyers use it. But crawl swimmers have modified it so much that it is almost gone.
Has it been replaced completely or was it an optical illusion? Did underwater film show us it did not exist.
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Former Member
Kirk, perhaps I am using viscosity incorrectly, the proper term might just be drag.
The problem I have with F = ma is that both the m and the a involved are horrendously complex, unlike with solids. Water is being accelerated backwards, and upwards and in all sorts of directions around the arm and the acceleration is highly variable between bits of the total mass. If you can't nail down the mass involved, or the acceleration involved, how useful is the equation?
Drag on the other hand is a simpler concept to deal with, it is just the force necessary to drive the arm through the water at a given speed, including all factors. You can predict that an arm moved through water that is already flowing in the same direction will have reduced drag and transfer less force.
Sorry for belaboring the point. :duel:
Kevin, those animations are very cool, even if I can't grasp what information they convey!
Kirk, perhaps I am using viscosity incorrectly, the proper term might just be drag.
The problem I have with F = ma is that both the m and the a involved are horrendously complex, unlike with solids. Water is being accelerated backwards, and upwards and in all sorts of directions around the arm and the acceleration is highly variable between bits of the total mass. If you can't nail down the mass involved, or the acceleration involved, how useful is the equation?
Drag on the other hand is a simpler concept to deal with, it is just the force necessary to drive the arm through the water at a given speed, including all factors. You can predict that an arm moved through water that is already flowing in the same direction will have reduced drag and transfer less force.
Sorry for belaboring the point. :duel:
Kevin, those animations are very cool, even if I can't grasp what information they convey!
