The episode that will air next Wednesday, May 6th is called "Swimming in Syrup." I guess they got Cal Bear and Olympian Nathan Adrian to help out with the episode. Not much info available, but presumably they will test out how greatly increasing the viscosity of water affects swimming speed. I remember someone did a test like this a few years ago. If I recall correctly it was at the U of Minnesota. In that test they only made the water something like twice as thick and their results were that it did not affect swimming speed. Obviously there's more drag, but you also generate more propulsion because you have a thicker substance to apply force against.
edit: yeah, here's a story about the Minnesota experiment www.it.umn.edu/.../goingforthegoo.html
This should be a cool episode. I enjoyed reading the Minnesota experiment. I have an intuitive feel for the viscosity not affecting speed since your pull and kick have a greater effect too, but it seems that the viscosity would impact speed on entry and off the walls. Ahh to have money and time to research stuff that has no practical application! But isn't that some of the funnest stuff to research?
Another thought is increasing the density of the water without changing its other properties. This should increase the body's buoyancy, the drag on the non-blocking surfaces of the body should remain the same, but I don't know what affects increased density would have on propulsion and over coming blocking drag.
Saltwater achieves the desired effect. It's more dense than freshwater, hence the body is more buoyant.
Instead of viscosity, what if you think about substances with varying degrees of adhesion and cohesion? If you are swimming through a highly cohesive substance with an extremely low adhesion, you would get increased propulsion, increased drag on blocking surfaces (head, shoulders, arms on entry) and decreased drag from the substance passing along the other surfaces of the body.
This assumes that it is possible to make a substance that is more cohesive then water and less adhesive and still be able to swim through it.
Another thought is increasing the density of the water without changing its other properties. This should increase the body's buoyancy, the drag on the non-blocking surfaces of the body should remain the same, but I don't know what affects increased density would have on propulsion and over coming blocking drag.
Someone round up some kids who need science fair projects and have them hop to it. We have knowledge to acquire.
This episode was aired on Thursday night in Taiwan. I got to see almost the entire programme, but unfortunately missed the part where they confirm or bust the myth.
Seeing as you guys haven't watched it yet, I won't spoil it for you, but I will be interested to hear your comments.
It did, however, get me thinking about how difficult it is to attribute an increase or a decrease in speed to any specific factor when a human is involved. It is not that we can just dial in the speed and execute the exact same stroke mechanics every time. Hardly anything we humans do can be repeated exactly the same again. There are just too many variables that could skew the results.
From what I understand, the more your body resembles a pancake, the less likely you are to survive a race in syrup in tact. The addition of butter compounds this effect.
