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
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.
Latest Answers