Science Project

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:20:19 GMT

When I was coaching several years back I had a girl that did one based the times of a 25 free under different circumstances... That's it! "How fast can my daddy swim the 25 Free... ...after no beers?" ...after one beer?" ...after two beers?" ...and so on, until DaddyStud pukes...

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:47:39 GMT

Measuring the heart rate and comparing times with and without a kick are great ideas. If you do them (or any others) be sure to randomize over a period of time. Like if you compared heart rate on free vs. ***: Day 1 you'd swim free then ***. Day 2 you'd swim *** then free. Etc. If you always swam the same stroke in the first trial, then the heart rate for the second trial could be affected by the effort exerted in the first. I should have included that it helps to know the resting heart rate, allow for recovery and switch up the strokes if possible. You could also count the heart rate as it builds up, and with no recovery... 1.resting HR 2.after 50 free 3.after 50 back 4.after 50 *** 5.after 50 fly As you can see we had put a lot of thought into this project...

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:57:06 GMT

If the stud kid needs it here is Polar Bear info pbsg.npolar.no/pb_faq.htm

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:00:33 GMT

Hmmm. Can Dad swim faster than a polar bear? Interesting question. While the final answer may be pending, I am certain that any Dad can swim faster if the polar bear is chasing Dad rather than Dad swimming behind the polar bear. I, personally do not want my daughter to put me to the test!

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:10:11 GMT

...and so on, until DaddyStud pukes... you forget, I'm British...it could take a while...

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:07:22 GMT

My daughter did an experiment in 5th grade using a stretch cord testing the 4 strokes. She had fun doing it and won Honorable Mention.

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:07:51 GMT

thanks for the input ...I like the heart rate one. We have to have something visual and presentable at the fair. Powerpoints and such may work but I don't know if this will fit the bill. I don't see why we can't make a presentation with video clips. Plus she can do all the filming and commentary (she is good at commentary). So it would be her work just my exertions.

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:05:22 GMT

RE: Science Project

mattson — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:54:32 GMT

For very young: Can dad swim faster than a polar bear? Sounds like someone doesn't like dad very much! :drown: Did you ever sleep in a bear pit With apple cores and mice along Did you ever lay on ice and grit Or search for a place where the wind was gone ... There ain't no bears in there (cache cache) Not a single bear in there (cache cache)

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:16:03 GMT

When I was coaching several years back I had a girl that did one based the times of a 25 free under different circumstances, ie...with a cap/ without a cap, before practice/after practice, drag suits/no drag suit, regular suit/tech suit, start from a block/start from in water... Not sure of all the tech things she did, just remember swimming some 25s for her. Good luck with the project.

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:10:29 GMT

How about a streamlining experiment. Have your subject push off the wall with hands at thier side and measure distance. Next have subject push off with hands like superman, measure distance. Lastly have subject in full streamline. The differences are significant. Time flag to flag using an open turn vs. filp turn. Measure verticle jump and relate to distance covered off wall in push off. Time wetsuit vs. non-wetsuit.

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:15:56 GMT

How about heart rate with differrent strokes? Swim all 4 50Y and compare which one raises the heart rate more. Or swim 100,500,1000 and take the heart rate after each,compare. My son had considered this one for his project.... How much does the kick contribute to each stroke? Swim 1,2,3 or all 4 strokes with your feet immobile(tie 'em together) and time. Repeat, this time using your stroke plus kick. It helps that you are volunteering as a test subject since you can make sure the data taken is acurate.

RE: Science Project

Muppet — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:03:38 GMT

Ten is fourth grade these days? Ten has been fourth grade since at least the 70s. Remember, it is February. With age cutoffs, kids are entering Kindergarden age 5 (which is normal, but then they're aging up right away. For example: a kid with a Dec birthday has to wait until he/she is "5" to enter Kindergarden. They won't take him as a 4 3/4 y/o because of the "4," so he enters school as a 5 3/4 y/o kndergardner and turns 6 three months later. Thus, he began school this year as a 9 3/4 y/o 4th grader, and then "aged up" during the year. I don't have Stud's kids' birthday's memorized, but chances are something like that is the case. Kids are a lot older these days than when I went to school. My elementary school cutoff was December 1 and I know we had SEVERAL kids with birthdays around then. They were always the last to turn whatever age the rest of us were. Now, its September 1.

RE: Science Project

aquageek — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:53:40 GMT

How about an evaluation of track versus grab start or new angled blocks versus older flat blocks? Which is faster? Which gets your further out, etc. That might have zero interest to your daughter but I sure would be interested in your findings. Ten has been fourth grade since at least the 70s.

RE: Science Project

ViveBene — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:33:40 GMT

Ten is fourth grade these days? Are they expected to present a hypothesis, or is it merely descriptive (such as which mammals swim faster and which swim slower)? Perhaps the actual conduct of the trial doesn't have to be filmed, although a photo of critical elements -- swimmer diving into water, somebody holding a stopwatch -- might add color. If this is a one-subject, one-trial experiment, maybe physiological adaptations during a long swim: heart rate and respiratory rate at different parts of the swim. What does Mini-stud have an interest in? I think river otters are cool. VB Mini-stud is 10. It has to be presented at the science fair...so I guess if it's in the water it could be filmed. I am sure my daughter will love the prospect of presenting her father in a Speedo to the school...serious negative cool points...

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:59:59 GMT

Mini-stud is 10. It has to be presented at the science fair...so I guess if it's in the water it could be filmed. I am sure my daughter will love the prospect of presenting her father in a Speedo to the school...serious negative cool points... :rofl:So I guess cold water shrinkage, would not be an age appropriate science experiment…:party2::censor:

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:08:31 GMT

I did a science project in high school related to swimming. I predicted that in the 100 free, if a swimmer was first after the first 25, they would finish first in the race. I had an entire high school season to gather results, but there are always races going on that could be used. The results were that if you first after the first 25, there was about a 70% chance that you would finish first.

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:40:34 GMT

OK, how about this: Get one of those bathroom scales that measures body fat percentage. Take it to a Masters workout and an age-group workout. Record each swimmer's percentage of body fat. Then have each swimmer get into the deep end of the pool. Have the swimmer try to float, vertically, with his arms at his sides. Look for a correlation between percent body fat and how deep they sink when they try to float. The hypothesis would be that the higher the percentage of body fat, the higher they will "float". I suggested the Masters and the age group kids because I am assuming that you'd see higher body fat percentages among the Masters, and lower ones among the age group kids.

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:36:06 GMT

UUHHHH but you're "SwimStud" . . . ergo speedo should be just fine.

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:22:55 GMT

How old is Mini-Stud? Mini-stud is 10. It has to be presented at the science fair...so I guess if it's in the water it could be filmed. I am sure my daughter will love the prospect of presenting her father in a Speedo to the school...serious negative cool points... :rofl:

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:36:18 GMT

My son did one where he had about 8 swimmers drink water during a workout, and another group drink gatorade. These were the upper age-group level swimmers. Then at the end of practice, he had them swim a 50 yard event where they had a recent race time that they knew. The measurement was: how far off the race pace was each group. Its far from perfect science. But the kids were very interested in helping out, as was the coach. Their practice lasted about 1 hour, 30-45 minutes. Anything less than that, I doubt there would be any difference. Good Luck!

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:11:02 GMT

How old is Mini-Stud?

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:04:11 GMT

How about a swimming golf experiment. Record what kind of speed changes happen at a range of stroke counts. Also see how a variety of technique changes make a difference in stroke count, speed and percieved rate of exertion That might be somehing to do. I have been informed by young Einstein that it should be more along the bog-standard "potato clock" type thing... damn.. I'm going to miss pool time!

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:03:08 GMT

RE: Science Project

Former Member — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:01:58 GMT

I was thinking the same thing as mermaid, maybe you could get body suits comped by those companies, triple whammy