It appears I’m not the only one at the University of Minnesota investigating the important questions that nag our species. (Scroll down for my previous post on the content of McDonald’s milkshakes)
Edward Cussler in the Chemical Engineering Department, recently took the time to answer the age old question: can a human swim faster in water or syrup?
Its really not a dumb question. Isaac Newton and Christiaan Huygens argued about it in the 17th century. While syrup would seem to provide more resistance and slow you down, it would also provide more resistance on each stroke generating more force.
For those of you too lazy to read the article your self, the answer is: it doesn’t really make a difference. You can swim about the same speed because the two forces cancel each other out.
More on the great milkshake mystery next week……
One reply on “All in the name of science Part Deux: Guar Gum Boogaloo”
They won an IG Nobel prize for that project. It’s the prize awarded for research that “makes you laugh and then makes you think.”