Professor Conducts Gunk Swimming Study (swim in water mixed with guar - a food thickener)

NW Cable News ^ | 08/19/03 | Associated Press

[bedolido]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- If you've ever wondered whether swimming through water makes you faster than swimming through gunk, a university professor has an answer.

University of Minnesota professor Ed Cussler has long wanted to know if paddling through a substance thicker than water would slow someone down or allow them to swim faster.

With that in mind, Cussler coaxed 19 people, including some members of the university's varsity swim team, to swim in water mixed with guar - a food thickener.

Logic suggests that a thicker substance would hinder swimming. Yet, as he watched the swimmers Monday, Cussler said, "It's not clear to me that you'd go slower."

The chemical engineering professor reasoned that the increased drag from the body might be countered, or even surpassed, by the hands' ability to push harder against the increased resistance.

With the university's permission, the group mixed the guar - used to thicken ice cream, shampoo and other products - in a large garbage can and dumped it into a pool.

Each swimmer swam through 25 yards of the guar-thickened water, then took a break and swam the same distance in another pool - all while being timed. After almost five hours of testing, preliminary results suggested that there was no difference between swimming speeds.

The research "has tremendous charm, it can't hurt anybody," he said. "We would have done even more things with it but we got so tired we couldn't think of more tests to do."

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[SolutionsOnly]

I wonder how many taxpayer dollars are involved in this.

[corkoman]

I love being a scientist - you get to goof off and no one really knows what I am up to.

[ctlpdad]

I can tell them from when i was a kid swimming in a swamp makes ya stronger and faster. noone could beat me at swamp swimming. never had any challengers, though.

I did pretty well on a real swim team in clean (relatively) water after the years of practice in the swamp.

Also helps build a hell of an imune system.

[joesnuffy]

hmm wouldnt the same law apply to a very small propelled floating object in a tank of guar and then time in the same tank of high quality H2O?
Naw...not when a whole swimming pool would do...imagine the expense of cleaning it and the filter system after...
What we learned in school today....how to scam a taxpayer or two

[Drango]

Actually the science of swimming and the understanding of drag/lift is of interest to chemical engineers and other scientist. It's a lot like physicist looking at why/how a pitcher can throw a curve ball. Fundamental understanding of the science behind swimming or curve balls helps us all.

[AdmSmith]

I wonder how many taxpayer dollars are involved in this.

Probably very little, if they did not get is for free they had to pay probably in the order of 50 - 100 dollars.

[ClearCase_guy]

Each swimmer swam through 25 yards of the guar-thickened water, then took a break and swam the same distance in another pool

One swimmer said, "Swimming through that guar was exhausting! By the time they put me in the clear water I could barely move my arms and legs. I'm amazed that my times were even close -- If I'd swum in the water first, I would have gone 10 times as fast! But hey, I guess that's science."

[SolutionsOnly]

And this research will build upon the research already performed on Submarine and surface ship hydrodynamics, hydraulics, and fluid coupling that already been done?

Would you invest your personal fortune in this effort? If not, how do taxpayer dollars make it a better value?

[VoiceOfBruck]

...imagine the expense of cleaning it and the filter system after...

That was my first thought! What a mess to clean up!

[speekinout]

You can always find a totally incompetent scientist somewhere, but I rather suspect that they had some of the swimmers swim in the guar first, and others swam in the water first.

[CalvaryJohn]

Gwar rocks!

[LibKill]

You can always find a totally incompetent scientist somewhere, but I rather suspect that they had some of the swimmers swim in the guar first, and others swam in the water first.

Yep. I know this type of engineer/scientist. They did that part right. I'll bet money on it.

The real problem is that the swimmers were probably very skinny engineering students from India. It's a wonder none of them drowned.

Not representative of swimmers in general and certainly not atheletes! :)

[YankeeinOkieville]

"Aerodynamically the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway." - Mary Kay Ash

[RightWinger]

swimming in a swamp makes ya stronger and faster

Yep . . . and those alligators on your butt helps a lot too!

[ChewedGum]

What I would like to know is how Gwar water compares with normal water when doing normal pool activities. Like - do you get a bigger splash when you do a cannonball? Or do belly flops hurt more? Inquiring minds want to know!

Gum

[ctlpdad]

lol, nt too many gaotrs in Mass., where I grew up, but the crayfish on the bottom make it so i never wanted to stop half way.