My sister Becky is on both the swim team and the crew team
at Franklin and Marshall, and it occurred to me that both of these sports
utilize the principle of buoyancy. I wanted to compare the buoyant force acting
on my sister when she swims to the buoyant force acting on the racing shell
when she rows.
We can calculate the buoyant force on the swimmer if the
density of pool water is 0.9927 g/ml, the swimmer’s mass is 61 kg, the volume
she displaces is ~1/2 her total volume. Total volume for the average human of
64 kg is 4.4 L, which we can approximate to be her volume. Therefore the
displaced volume is 2.2L. Her density can be calculated by:
Therefore we can use these values to calculate the buoyant
force on her as she swims (floats):
Therefore, Becky feels 28.4N of buoyant force to keep her
afloat.
To calculate the buoyant force on the shell she uses when
she is rowing, we can use the same equations. Racing shells are typically made
of carbon fiber reinforced polymer, which on average have a density of 1.55
g/cm3. The density of river water is 1.02 g/ml. We will approximate the
volume displace by the shell to be 20 liters. An 8-person shell weighs 90 kg,
in addition to the eight athletes, which we will approximate to be 61 kg each
for a total mass of 578 kg.
Therefore, there is significantly greater buoyant force acting on the racing shell than acting on Becky when she swims.
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