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Fluid dynamics

Swimming across scales

Nature Physics volume 10, pages 711–712 (2014)Cite this article

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The myriad creatures that inhabit the waters of our planet all swim using different mechanisms. Now, a simple relation links key physical observables of underwater locomotion, on scales ranging from millimetres to tens of metres.

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Figure 1: As a fish swims through viscous water, a layer of fluid is dragged along its body.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johannes Baumgart and Benjamin M. Friedrich are at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, 01187 Dresden, Germany,

    Johannes Baumgart & Benjamin M. Friedrich

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  1. Johannes Baumgart
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  2. Benjamin M. Friedrich
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Correspondence to Benjamin M. Friedrich.

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Baumgart, J., Friedrich, B. Swimming across scales. Nature Phys 10, 711–712 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3099

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