What Dolphins Can Teach Us About Hydrodynamics


	What Dolphins Can Teach Us About Hydrodynamics

chestnut501

7-5-2009 8:14 PM

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tags:

science, biology, marine-biology, hydrodynomics, dolphins, energy, lift, drag, biomimicry, submarines

chestnut501 says:

"The secret is right under our (bottle)noses"

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/dad22131-7e90-45f4-a3e1-4b05d7966106/D7764653-8819-4CA9-B066-1546FADD3E41/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29" href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29" style="font-size: 11px;">www.scientificamerican.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29">The flippers that some marine mammals use to glide underwater have a lot in 
common with the <A 
href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=not-a-drag-high-tech-airplane-wings-2009-05-22">wings</A> 
of passenger jets and fighter planes</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.scientificamerican.com/img/100CECD6-8C6F-4FE3-A521-C7F235E9B22B" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29">scientists from Duke University, </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29">recently found out just how similar the manmade wings and marine mammal flippers 
are by testing scale models in a water tunnel.<BR></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29">the goal is to have a better understanding of how an animal moves and maneuvers</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29">He and his colleagues wanted to know how much energy some <A 
href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=dolphin-inspired-man-made-fin">dolphins</A>, 
<A 
href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=005E4190-9DE4-32A2-015B43F0702189EA">whales</A> 
and porpoises use to replace the water in their path</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29">All seven species studied have relatively immobile flippers that remain 
outstretched like an airplane’s wings. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29">The bottlenose dolphin’s almost triangular flippers are the most efficient 
hydrodynamically. The shape means the dolphin “produces the greatest amount of 
lift for paying the least amount of drag cost,”</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-secret-right-under-our-bottleno-2009-06-29">Howle doesn’t expect the findings to influence the design of the next fighter 
jet, but a little biomimicry may improve future submarines.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/D7764653-8819-4CA9-B066-1546FADD3E41/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>