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Abstract

External forces that have a major effect on most human movements are related to immersion in or flow of fluids past a body. This chapter reviews the mechanical effect of moving through air and water, the two most common fluids encountered in human movement. Fluid forces usually result in considerable resistance to high-velocity movements through fluids, so many sport techniques and pieces of equipment are designed to minimize fluid resistance. Fluid forces, however, can also be used to create movement, like in the skillful application of spin to projectiles. This chapter concludes with application of this use of fluid forces in the Principle of Spin.

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© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Knudson, D. (2003). Fluid Mechanics. In: Fundamentals of Biomechanics. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5298-4_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5298-4_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-5300-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-5298-4

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