one can swim in water... By practising gradually in less dense fluids can't one ultimately swim/fly in air ?

Answer 1

In the real experiment carried out with penguins (which are are very good swimmers but do not fly), of the original 1000 birds:

one refused to swim in any fluid other than sea water
two died from unknown reasons just after the experiment started
three became pregnant and were released from the project
four developed acute psychological problems
989 drown in one of the "less dense fluids"

the single penguin who completed the experiment reached a height of about 100 feet, let out a loud squawk, stopped flapping and fell to her death.

All kidding aside, a human can swim in water because the body can float on water. As the fluid became less dense, the body would lose floatation (buoyancy).

The closest that a human can come to flying in a manner similar to what you propose would be skydiving (the long fall), becoming weightless in space, or being "shot out of a cannon" at a circus.

Answer 2

Hey Graju,

Well, it's a weird theory you have but the ability to swim has nothing to do with it.

And practice.... doesn't make perfect!

Swimming is only the ability to move the fluid you are in fast enough to keep you buoyant in that density. If you were in a salt lake, you would float without the use of your hands or feet. If you were in lava (if it weren't hot enough to cremate you) you could be an Olympic swimmer and you wouldn't last more than a few seconds.

In order to "swim" in air that is the density that your water is in, you would have to move your arms at the same speed and at the same angle and in the same motion of a helicopter.

Thankfully, I won't see you fly by my house any time soon.

James in San Diego

Answer 3

<>Please name which "less dense" fluids you would like to swim in. Gasoline? Ethanol? Liquid nitrogen? I see a slight problem there. The only reason airplanes fly is they can change the air pressure over an aerodynamic shape. You would have to redesign the human body and then speed up the "swimming" by "several" mile per hour!

Answer 4

Which less dense fluids?
I think you cannot prctise in less dense fluids.
If you can then it may be possible to fly/swim in air

Answer 5

we learn to swim better by practising because gradually we get an idea as to how to maximize the bouyant force of water by varying our surface area, body angle and momentum, so that we can counter gravity. we also learn to use our lungs to keep us afloat.
it means that there is a corelation between "physical variables which we can govern by our body's spatial and dynamic confguration" and the fluid which we have chosen.
(i said "fluid", because it stands for liquid and gases both.)

now ther are certain corollaries of the above said statement:-
(1) there is no fundamental difference between swiming and flying. they are same, just the medium varies.
to swim in air is called flying
to fly in water is called swimming.
(2)because of our predefined body configuration, there is a limited range of spatial and dyanamic configurations which our body can handle.
(3)density of water can be thought of as constant for most situations.

combining the above three corollaries we can say that we swim/fly in water only because (luckily) water's physical characteristics and its interacton with our body's configuration results in some "fly-able sets".
if we keep our body configuration same and then try to swim in air, we won't be able to cross the threshold limit where bouyant force and gravity nullify each other.
if we "have" to swim in air, we will have to change our body configuration ranges. this can be done by artificial means
(1)like using contrivaces. (even gliders, helicopters etc. use this same principal)
(2)use genetic tech. to make our bones hollow, lungs larger, arms wider and with more flapping capacity etc.

your idea was really very good, but your stress was on practising. instead it should have been on compatibility of physical variables.but anyway, i really admire you for asking such a creative question.

Answer 6

no. u cant you are not adapted to flying in air like birds. but if u practice in really dense liqiuds and in air also according to charles darwin's theory of natural selection your next generation people may develop flat wings like birds or else some other characteristic which will enable them to fly.

according to physics u cant fly in air by practicing in less dense liqiuds. the air does not have such great buoyoyant force to lift you up. it is possible in mercury though. ever wondered how jets fly they have streamlined steady bodies, wings are flat and they have engines which we dont so fuh- about it dude

Answer 7

Unless your body mass is less dense than air, technically you can't really fly. We may be able to float in water due to the air pocket that we keep in our lungs.

Answer 8

Thats an interesting theory - however one must take into consideration that air has no capacity to hold an object wieghing more than a few grammes therefore, solo flying is virtually impossible - theres simply no way u could teach urself that!!

Answer 9

its all about speed.
when you swim you push water behind and due to law of conservation of momentum it pushes you in front. due to its density your hand can push quite a good amount of water that can move your net mass (since you are in the water you are not as heavy) therefore that is how you swim.

now in air that it is not so dense you should push AIR so fast (in order to get the momentum to push you) that it is almost impossible. unless you get greater area ....xmm that is what birds do.

so you need either greater surface -. quantity of air , or greater speed.

Answer 10

No. If you had a pool hot tub mix and turned it on high, with all the air bubbles in the water there would be now way you could swim in it you would sink like a rock. if you filled a pool with cooking oil and jumped in you would also sink like a rock .there would be no way you could swim in it unaided.

Answer 11

One can swim in water because of buoyancy(upward lift) in water which keeps one afloat. But such force is not there in air. So because of gravitational force one can not swim in air but fall.