how do non-swimmers just sink in the water while paddling very hard trying to stay above the water whilst swimmers have to do next to nothing to stay above it?
In: Physics
Swimmers keep our head and most of the body a lot lower than the flotation level (underwater) so every kick and paddle goes into moving forward and not trying to “keep the head over the water”. this is something most “non swimmers” are not confortable or don’t know is the thing that keeps them “not moving forward”.
Every time you take your head out vertically, kick under the hips level, or push down with your arms instead of backwards moving your body forward you are stopping yourself while working.
non-swimmers try to get their full head up, in more like an upright position of the body. They will fail, because the density difference is not high enough for the full head to emerge from the water. They will panick once the water level reaches the mouth, and things get worse.
Swimmers will try to just get the face out of the water. They will be comfortable enough to just stick half the head out, or even just the nose. They will also position the body horizontally, which helps putting the face (not the head) upmost.
Our buoyancy comes from our own water density and the air in our lungs. Usually the first thing we teach kids in the pool is how to float on their backs to stay above water. Arm and leg movement is generally used as propulsion and direction, rather than keeping us afloat.
Non-swimmers fight it. Swimmers know if you draw and hold a breath and totally relax, you float.
It all has to do with Newton’s laws. Especially the third one that states “for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.” The human body has a natural buoyancy that is not too far off from water (but is not enough to keep the head out on its own). The trick is to make movements that will result in the body (and the head) staying on top of or out of the water. Think about a paddle in the water. If you push it against the water in the direction of the skinny edge, it slices through with little resistance. If you try to push it through in the direction of the broad flat side, it seems to push back and requires much force to move.
By articulating the hands and feet in such a way that the upward strokes minimize reactive force (paddle slicing) and downward strokes maximize reactive force (paddle pushes back); the net force is that the body and head stay on the top surface and don’t sink.
If a non-swimmer falls in and just starts kicking and flailing without regard to the resultant force of their movements, they will eventually cancel out and result in the head going under when it is time to breathe.
A skilled swimmer however, develops a second nature to the reactive forces, and seems to effortlessly exude a minimum of forces that allow them to keep their head above water.
They don’t just sink, they try very hard not to sink, and untrained most people try to “climb” out of the water like they were on a ladder. That just doesn’t work and uses a lot of energy. Further the panic from getting water in their face/mouth from the splashing just makes it worse.
Swimmers normally don’t do any of those things. They in effect “fly” in the water with 4 wings known as arms and legs.
By just taking a deep breath you become buoyant. Non swimmers panic and fuck up their breathing in all kinds of ways (swallowing water e.g.) which makes them sink.
Among other reasons listed here.
Non swimmers treat the water like a solid. They try to push down on it or climb up in it or jump out of it. Water is not solid. It is a fluid and moves away from the pressure you exert on it. You can float on it or swim trough it, though. Water is more like air than a solid when it comes to locomotion in it. Sticking your hand out a moving car’s window and pushing you hand down does not raise your arm. Tilting your hand a tiny bit will raise or lower your arm. Swimmers merely apply the force themselves rather than through the water’s momentum. Treading water is a mere tilted hand moving through water when conditions are right.
I’m seeing a lot people talking about how non swimmers react to water in a swimming sense, but not much about general floating. How do you get your body to actually float? As I mentioned in an above reply, I do not float. And my body literally just gets pulled down the further I go in. It’s not even a matter of relaxation, because even in an area where I could safely test “floating” by holding onto something and just letting the rest of my body relax, I do not get above water.
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