Summer vacations are, for many Portuguese, synonymous with the beach and diving in the sea or in the pool. The more adventurous run the risk of jumping from rocks or doing tricks in the air, like dolphins in full fun. But humans are not marine animals and the risk of serious injury (or death) is real. An American team set out to understand the hydrodynamics of diving to see what forces conflict with the organism.
“Any time the height of the dive is such that the impact of the dive exceeds the critical compressive force of the muscles, ligaments, or bones, injuries occur,” the researchers wrote in an article published in the scientific journal Science Advances at July. Dangerous challenges, such as falling headfirst into the water from a height of eight meters without any protection, can cause injury to the cervical spine (vertebrae in the neck) or head trauma. You certainly wouldn’t want to run headfirst into a door to open it (the door, of course).
We are fascinated by the scathing flight of gannets diving for fish, but we are not so well adapted. Even with your head tucked into outstretched arms and palms facing each other, you risk breaking a collarbone if you jump more than 40 feet. Gannets dive at a speed of 24 meters per second, but the dense feathers behind the head transmit the force of the impact to the long neck, which then bends. Now imagine diving at the same speed: 86 kilometers per hour.
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Source: Observadora
