Newton's laws of physics are very important to
swimmers. They govern each motion made by the swimmer, and if
the swimmer can use these laws to their advantage, it can be the
difference between first and last in a race.
Newtons First Law:
Our bodies naturally want
to be doing the least amount of work they can. The physical
world is the same way. It takes energy to get things moving, and
it takes energy to stop moving things. A swimmers natural state
is on the couch curled up with a pizza and a movie, but get them
moving and there is no stopping them.
Newton's Second Law:
The force it takes to
propel a swimmer down the pool depends directly on the swimmers
mass and how quickly they are speeding up. The more force the
swimmer applies into moving in the forward direction, the
quicker the swimmer will accelerate. And the quicker the swimmer
can accelerate, the quicker they can get out in front of the
competition and gain the lead.
Newton's Third Law:
This law is huge for
swimmers because this law makes it possible for them to even
move through the water at all. Every kick, pull, turn, and start
depends on this one law. When a swimmers hand pushes the water
back behind them, they are depending on that opposite reaction
to push them forward. When they push off the wall during a turn
or off the block during a dive they are counting on that
reaction to spring them forward.