Motion of Canoes
- The person who paddles in the
front (bow) of the canoe usually focuses most of
their energy on propelling the canoe forward.
- As previously
mentioned, Newton's third law describes
how paddling pushes a canoe forward. Dr. George
Arimond and some of his colleagues found three
things that increase the efficiency of paddling:
- Skilled paddlers do three
things to reduce blade slippage:
1) Fully submerge the blade before exerting
significant power. Less power is exerted until
the blade
nears complete submersion.
2) Exert the greatest power during the blade’s
perpendicular phase. Maximum power is exerted
as
the blade nears the perpendicular range (plus
or minus 25 degrees) and quickly ceases at the
end of the
perpendicular range.
3) Extend the duration of the stroke’s
perpendicular range by shifting the amount of
power exerted
by each arm (top and bottom) during the
stroke. (Arimond)
- Velocity and acceleration of a
canoe are vector quantities having both
magnitude and direction. While the magnitude of
the acceleration and velocity are determined by
how hard person paddles, the direction that the
person moves the paddle will determine which
direction the canoe moves.
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