body hair in the water causes air bubbles to form. the air bubbles have area. i know that extra area slows down swimmers by a bit, but i need a source for my teacher of where i got that information. anyone know a website of some sort?
126813
I only way bubbles affect swimmers are from the start off the blocks. If you have a great start and your head enters where your hands and legs entered, you will have few bubbles and your streamline will be mush faster and farther.
585650
You are right.. I see your point\n\nbecause what if flying? to be suspended in the air for some period of time right? And I say, air is a gas.. but it has waves ( wind ) and a certain density.. everything lighter than air, fly's anything heavier, falls\n\nIn that sense, then the only difference between swimming underwater and flying, is that water is liquid not gas.. and that humans can float but not fly
643956
Maybe it has something to do with the actions you're making.  When you're timing yourself out of water, you're just sitting there right?  But when your under water, you're treding or moving in some sort?  Try timing yourself when your walking around the house or jumping up and down....the blood takes in more oxygen(which means you need more) when its pumping faster.  Just an idea!
631165
No, not strange. In fact, many men do this. I actually wax men that come to the salon; some are swimmers, some just dont want hair there. Use a good shaving cream, go slowly and apply Tend Skin when you are done to prevent ingrown hairs and the unsightly razor burn like bumps that can sometimes develop. Good luck.
307126
you are naturally bouyant, fill your lungs with air as much as you can, and you will float... just dont panic when a wave hits your face
17136
For starters, these bubbles are not coming from the oxygen present in H2O, or any transition from gas to liquid state. The amount of activation energy it would take to break the H2O bond (plus the surrounding hydrogen bonds) to send liquid Oxygen to gas form is not going to come from room temperature. More likely, the gas bubbles you see are dissolved air. Your water has gone through many filtration stops and a multitude of meshes, all of which can dissolve small microscopic bubbles of air in the water. These either come out to the water-air interface or combine with neighboring bubbles (I would guess this reduces surface tension). You see the larger air bubbles.
174117
There are several lipids--biliverdin, urobilinogen and others--in urine, and often small amounts of protein, derived from the breakdown of sloughed-off cells from the lining of the bladder.\n\nThese, and other compounds in your urine, can increase the surface tension a bit.  Now, add into this that when you pass the urine, it comes out as a stream--for you younger folks, a lot faster than for old geezers like me--which entrains air as it moves downward, and as it hits the surface of the water below.\n\nThose two things generate the bubbles.\n\nYou can also get urine to form bubbles by shaking it up; have seen it done, but have no plans of trying it myself, thanks...
355760
Balance Your Body Chemistry.\n\nIf you've ever taken chemistry in high school you're familiar with this simple experiment to test the conductivity of salt. Two ends of an electrical wire are attached to a light bulb. The other ends are submerged in a glass of water. Because water alone is not conductive, the bulb does not light up. But when we add a little salt to the water the bulb starts to glow.\n\nIt's the same with our body. When we lack the natural elements in salt we suffer from a chronic energy deficit, or deficit of information. Salt is a core essential nutrient with exceptional abilities and qualities fundamental for keeping us alive.\n\nScience and medicine have tried to define the precise roles of salt in the healthy and diseased human organism. Blood, sweat, and tears all contain salt, and both the skin and the eyes are protected from infectious germs by the anti-bacterial effect of salt. When salt is added to a liquid, particles with opposite charges are formed: a positively charged sodium ion and a negatively charged chloride ion. This is the basis of osmosis which regulates fluid pressure within living cells and protects the body against excessive water loss (as in diarrhoea or on heavy sweating).  Sodium and chloride ions, as well as potassium ions, create a measurable difference in potential across cell membranes. This ensures that the fluid inside living cells remains separate from that outside. Thus, although the human body consists mainly of water, our "inner ocean" does not flow away or evaporate. Sodium ions create a high pressure of liquid in the kidneys and thus regulate their metabolic function. Water is extracted through the renal drainage system. The body thus loses a minimal amount of essential water. Out of 1500 litres of blood which pass daily through the kidneys, only about 1.5 litres of liquid leave the body as urine. \n\nSalt is "fuel" for nerves. Streams of positively and negatively charged ions send impulses to nerve fibres. A muscle cell will only contract if an impulse reaches it. Nerve impulses are partly propelled by co-ordinated changes in charged particles.
386677
Liquids like water usually have high surface tension meaning that they tend to minimize their surface area. Now this also means that stretching such a substance  (like you do with a bubble gum) is difficult. \nWhen a substance known as surfactant (used to decrease the surface tension of water) is added, the surface tension decrease and stretching the surface is more easy. It becomes now easy for the liquid to trap a certain volume of air and stretch its flat surface to form a bubble.\n(It does not mean that plain water does'nt form bubbles at all - it does so (as you observe when you pour water from a faucet in a glass) but the bubbles quickle is finished as the high surface tension forces the surface to minimum area - the flat surface.\n\nSo it is clear that whenever you decrease the surface tension of a liquid - by adding a surfactant (detergent in common household) it enhances the bubble formation by little agitation of the liquid.
64318
Generaly what appear to be air bubble is actually vaporized water molecules. \nAt the boiling point high energy molecules of water convert to gasious state and thus they look in the form of bubble. As the water vapours are transparent like air we assume the bubbles to be made of air but actually the bubbles are filled with water vapours.\n\nHowever, in the very early stage of heating water the dissolved air scapes from water. Usually this escaping air does not form bubbles but sometimes tiny bubbles are also formed. Nevertheless, this happens much before actual boiling.
640300
They shrivel because of the process of osmosis. This is how all water is moved in the body. It is simple diffusion through a semipermeable membrane. When your hand is in the water, there is a higher concentration of water inside you finger tissues than outside your fingers in the pool water. This is the case because pool water contains impurities. Osmosis will work to equalize the concentration of water and thus you fingers will lose water to the pool water. I know this is complicated but it is how we work.
499176
ok well before a meet do not eat any heavy foods, becuase then you will feel heavy in the water while your swimming.If you have a meet after school then eat something like a sandwich with chips and a drink and a cookie and youll be fine!The only things you really need to know about shaving is that if you are training for an upcoming meet DO NOT shave until the night before the meet, believe it or not not shaving cuases drag and it makes you work harder so when it comes to the meet and your races you will feel faster and smoother in the water. before meets make sure you drink alot of gatorade or water so you are hydrated. the night before eat pastas its carbs will load you with energy and bring fruit and such to the meets to keep your energy level up. GOOD LUCK ;p
13728
i dont know if this is true..but i heard once when i was a kid that tadpoles draw the nutrients they need from theyre little tails. i heard that its the same concept as little creatures eating their shells after breaking out of them. This might be urban legend but it makes sense to me! what else happens to their little tails? and please..nobody correct me or i will feel really really stupid for believing this if its not true
555548
Swimming IS actually proven make people "stretch"... If you constantly swim, and I mean with the correct strokes, swimming laps, etc. you stretch the muscles, ligaments, and tendons, which then pulls the bones and lengthens the body. If you are a swimmer, you'll know, I do. Oh, and if you're still sceptic, look at all the swimmers of the 2004 olympic games. it's not coinsidence that they are all taller than 6'2". I mean everyone in my family are surfers and, spear fishers (both require great swimming ability) and we're all skinny and tall. kinda lanky too but swimming doesn't really BUILD muscle just slims you down, a lot
467519
Nope nope nope nope - if you are as good a player and actually make as much money as David Beckham, then by all means shave if you think it helps. Otherwise, don't bother as this does not help even someone of Beckham's quality. This is for swimmers to keep air bubbles out of hair and go faster. All other sports it is for the girly players who go to tanning booths and a "hair" "dresser".
268258
I agree with the bouncy but I think Bill means that some people perceive a bouncy effect that it helps them stay up maybe 10% easier, I have noticed this effect.  Anyways here is my story i know from a bad day at diving, i didn't know the girl that well so I guess it doesn't hurt that much to write about it, and no drugs were used or anything like that but there was a POOR lack of judgment on her abilities.\n\nWe went diving with 3 friends, sally who drowned was girlfriend to Chris.  She wasn't your typical diver though, she was extremely athletic and had one of the best most perfect bodies I know, i never seen anyone fill a wetsuit like her, even used the lycra kind for the added sex appeal.  Which I think was the wrong choice for cold water and help lead to her drowning.  Anyways like I said she was more into how she looked in a wetsuit then actual diving, thinking her athletic ability would compensate for lack of experience.  We started out, all gear checked and explored in some cold water, I noticed her getting cold cause she shivered and I gave the sign to point up to go up, so all three of us went to the surface and yes she said she was cold and told her to go back to the boat and warm up and we saw her do that.\n\nChris and I went back down, but being stubborn she went back down after we left with no partner.  apparently she got confused cause we found her away from the boat quite a ways.  So chris and I come up, can't find her in the boat and panic, so we get new tanks and dive down again looking for her.  We find her with all of her equipment taken off as she tried to reach the surface quickly.  We brought her up went to a hospital but no good luck unfortunately.  Even though the water was cold it just didn't protect her.\n\nDamn I still get teary eyed reading that.
393362
If the jumping up and down trick doesn't work, put in a little isopropyl alcohol, the drier alcohol the better.  I keep a bottle of 99 per cent around the house.  80 per cent will work if that is all you have.  Absorb the excess with a q tip.  If water stays in over time you can get a nasty infection known as "swimmers ear."