At 8:44 PM -0400 7/22/98, Rich Kulawiec wrote: >On Wed, Jul 22, 1998 at 08:07:17AM -0400, John Winters wrote: >> Then can you explain what causes those eddies around the blade with each >> stroke. Also, can you explain how water that cannot support sheer forces >> can fail to flow around the blade. > >Sure. Nobody's forward stroke is perfect. And nobody's blade design >is perfect either -- which is why it slips a bit. Both are imperfections >to be minimized, but both are non-zero. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Some people call this slip. In order to make you and the boat go forward, something has to go back. The easiest thing to move is the water. If the water fails to move, you move the whole earth. You don't move it much, but it moves. This is not an imperfection, it is the way things work. When you paddle you are converting your chocolate chip cookies into kinetic energy. You want your boat to get most of that energy and the planet to get as little as possible. The momentum (m1*v1) you gain will always be equal to the momentum you give the earth (m2*v2) because momentum is concerved. Since Kinetic Energy (KE)=1/2*m*v^2 you will see that moving a massive reactive object slowly is more efficient than moving a small object fast to acheive the same momentum. Any advantage a small paddle has is physiological or pyschological because it is not physical. It works by moving a small mass fast. Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks c/o Newfound Woodworks, 67 Danforth Brook Rd, Bristol, NH 03222 (603) 744-6872 Schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ >>>>"It's not just Art, It's a Craft!"<<<< *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Jul 23 1998 - 13:53:40 PDT
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