Gregor Vukasinovič
Propulsion System
A metaphor I've heard a few times over the years: Those swans glide silently and gracefully over the water, yet if you were to look at them from below, you'd see how chaotic their feet are moving to propel them. Guess it was supposed to say something like, don't judge a book by its cover, or still waters run deep, something like that. In it's, frankly, wrong. If the movement was chaotic, the birds would never move in a straight line. It's fast movement, fair enough, but it's about as chaotic as the inner workings of a combustion engine, or the conrods of a steam locomotive.
Turns out a swan has more in common with a paddle wheel steamer than with a jetski. I guess that would be another viable method to generate thrust, but swans don't eat enough beans for that.
Ans not just swans, also ducks and many other things moving in the water.
Propulsion System
A metaphor I've heard a few times over the years: Those swans glide silently and gracefully over the water, yet if you were to look at them from below, you'd see how chaotic their feet are moving to propel them. Guess it was supposed to say something like, don't judge a book by its cover, or still waters run deep, something like that. In it's, frankly, wrong. If the movement was chaotic, the birds would never move in a straight line. It's fast movement, fair enough, but it's about as chaotic as the inner workings of a combustion engine, or the conrods of a steam locomotive.
Turns out a swan has more in common with a paddle wheel steamer than with a jetski. I guess that would be another viable method to generate thrust, but swans don't eat enough beans for that.
Ans not just swans, also ducks and many other things moving in the water.