Help me

[HBinjection]

This is the friendliest place I know of on the web. Almost every poster here seems considerate and kind. I post to a few other forums where the action is fast and furious, and they are fun. But this is a welcoming spot for me, like sitting in a nice leather chair beside the fire in the study.....

But since my study burned, this has been a nice substitute.

On to real business.

I've started a "Help Me" thread here in GD so that anyone who has a question or needs advice can seek it here, and others who feel like helping or exercising their trivia muscles can peruse the perusals.

My original idea for this was a science Q & A because I had a question about physics. I solved that puzzle myself, but I still liked my idea so now consider it implemented.


Need Help?

Post Here!

 

[Dawn]

I sense you want the question asked so here goes. . . what was your physic question/puzzle? I'd like a shot at it.

 

[Darren]

Thanks for the kind words HBinjection.

I know we're not the fastest place on the web, and we don't have thousands of members, but I'd personally prefer quality rather than quantity.

My physics is a little rusty, but I'll give it a shot.

 

[Dawn]

Oh wait...

But this is a welcoming spot for me, like sitting in a nice leather chair beside the fire in the study.....

But since my study burned, this has been a nice substitute.

Are you kidding or what that nice leather chair a little too close to the fire.

 

[HBinjection]

I was just kidding about the fire.

As for my question, I was talking about submarines with a friend the other day and I was wondering if they would use more power to travel underwater or on the surface. I was wondering about a similar problem while watching Fear Factor the other night. Contestants had to swim with a helicoptor hovering overhead. It was causing choppy waves and I wondered if submerging to avoid the turbulence would help.

Submarines travel underwater most of the time and people swim on the surface. Submarines like to hide, and people like to breath, but beyond these what are the reasons for these actions. What factors other than water resistance are involved?

 

[Prolixic]

I think it would depend on enviromental factors mostly. You know, wind above the water and currents below. Then there is the surface area of the sub rubbing against the water: more surface area below the water less when its on the surface. Does the air or the water generate more friction for the engines to work against? Are air or water currents harder to push against? Is it warm water or cold water--is water density even a factor? What kind of a power plant does it have? If its nuclear it may be a moot point. (The encyclopedia says a nuclear sub can go all the way around the world about forty times on a lump of uranium the size of a lemon. Who knew?) Is Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington, or Sean Connery piloting the sub? Sorry I'm digressing...

Anyway, it may even out in the end when the sub gets out into the ocean and starts doing whatever subs do.

 

[HBinjection]

Proloxic,

Thanks for bringing even more variables into the equation!

I actually had thought about a few of those and gave up because I realized I didn't know enough about submarine dynamics to solve the problem

Actually, I was watching U-571 and it was a Nazi sub that ran on diesel and electric. The diesel engines weren't working so they were racing against time to get a fix before the electric power ran out. They were travelling at the surface for the most part until people came to kill them, then they submerged.

Plus I was talking to a friend who works for a university and travelled on a U.S. nuclear sub to test a program he wrote. He said that they travel almost exclusively underwater.

Hence my question.