How Fish Swim Essay -- physics fish swimming

Water and all forms of water run short have keen-sighted fascinated man. With his bewitchment and the realization that humans are ill-suited for water travel that doesnt involve remaining on the surface, an appreciation for a fishs ability to melt down in three dimensions with relative ease was also devloped. Although we may non fully understand the physics involved how fish swim, it is obvious from the fascination and the breadth of reseach that it will remain a goal of the modern sicientist. A fishs ability to propel itself efficiently through water is paramount to its likeliness to succeed. But before a fish imply worry near any of the complications associated with moving through water (hydrodynamic drag, turbulence, buoyancy, etc.) it must first knead the problem of locomotion. The most common method for solving this problem is by muscle contraction and relaxation. The forward thrust force is created by gallery of the caudal (tail) fin and varying amounts of the surrounding muscle (up to the entire dust for fish that swim similar to eels) in an undulating motion. The importance of this mechanism manifests itself in the fact that 80% of a fishs body is composed of muscle employ for propulsion and maneuvering. Since fish live in an environment in which they need to move in three dimensions, buoyancy plays a significant usance in determining a fishs ability to swim efficiently. Fish work a couple of different strategies to solve this problem. Denser fish use their pectoralis fins to create dynamic lift, similar to planes and birds. As these fish swim, their pectoral fins are positioned in such a way as to create a difference in pressure which allows the fish to maintain a true depth. The two major drawbacks of ... ... Anjem and Marko, John. University of Illinois, Chicago. Department of Physics http//www.uic.edu/classes/phys/phys461/phys450/MARKO/N004.html Smits, A. Drag of Blunt and streamline Bodies Princeton University. Department of Engineering http//www.princeton.edu/asmits/Bicycle_web/blunt.html Moore, Bobby and Warren, Michael. The Bouyancy of Fish and the Physics Behind it http//kingfish.coastal.edu/physics/projects/2000_fall/fish/ Tu, Xiaoyuan. Structure of the Dynamic Fish Model. University of Toronto http//www.dgp.toronto.edu/people/tu/thesis/node50.html