Maddenation
Shark Jumping
I was watching a shark-week special on the air jaws sharks of South Africa this week and heard them talk about calculating the speed of the sharks by observing the height of their jumps out of the water. With simplifying assumptions (as always) this might form the basis for a good physics “bell ringer” for David (or a fun exercise for a physics buff like me).
Factors to consider: verticality of the shark (probably can’t be straight up because shark is trying to intercept a swimming seal); weight of seal/shark (is it a hit or a miss?); wind resistance (just kidding). Basically, this problem uses similar formulas to those that Patrick applied in his famous “Air-Jordan” calculations (done during his “physics period”) that proved that the “air time” quoted in the 90s Nike ads was impossible. Hey, has that been documented on this site?
Dad • Observations • 07/23/05 • 3 comments
Comments
Dad • 07/23/05 • 3:30 PM:This entry, of course, causes one to question whether or not a human being (even the world’s fastest swimmer) can jump out of the water. As you might expect, the answer is no; else we certainly would have heard about it, no?
Patrick • 07/29/05 • 5:30 PM:What it makes me ask is whether a human being can jump out of syrup as high as out of water. And what about sharks? And, seriously, if you’re going to test how fast humans can swim in syrup, why not use real syrup? You totally make me disbelieve you when you just add some corn syrup to water. Use maple!
Dad • 07/29/05 • 6:49 PM:So you want to chop down all those maple trees just so you can satisfy your whim about swimming in syrup? Well, maybe not chop them down, but at least drill holes in them just so you and your shark friends can romp in your viscous pool. I suppose you want Sea World to be sponsored by Aunt Jemima and feature great white sharks jumping through hoops and “splashing” sticky, gooey syrup all over the kids in the front row, who just came to be entertained, not encased in glutinous fluid.
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