Eli5: How do whales or other heavy marine animals jump out of water?

Question

Eli5: How do whales or other heavy marine animals jump out of water?

In: 19

Answer 1

Momentum. They swim up vertically from deep below the surface and then their momentum carries them into the air even though they can’t generate any more thrust when they leave the water.

A whale that’s already coasting at the surface has no way of jumping out of the water; if that’s what you were trying to imagine. They start well below and “take a run at it” vertically.