Is It Easier To Swim In Water Or Syrup

by Marie Vonow (follow)

Answers (5)      Questions (4)      Research (3)      Curiosity (2)     

According to Wikipedia, research is 'creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of Humans, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications.' The Cambridge Dictionary's definition is, 'a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover (new) information or reach a (new) understanding'.

When I am interested in a topic I sometimes read up on the research that has been done. The internet makes it so easy to access lots of research and study findings.

Now and then I come across a topic that has been researched and wonder why on Earth someone bothered to investigate it. Who asked the questions that led to the research?

How difficult is it to swim in syrup?
Who asked this question? Why did they ask it? The answer is if you are able to swim in water you can swim just as easily in syrup. This surprised me, I thought it would take more effort to swim in syrup.

Back in 2004 researchers at the University Of Minnesota wanted to know if it is as easy to swim in syrup as in water. To answer this question, a 25 metre swimming pool was filled with a guar gum solution which was twice as thick as water. Guar gum is used to thicken foods such as yoghurt, almond milk and soups. The participants in the experiment found it wasn't more difficult to swim in the guar gum solution than water.

What type of flea can jump the longest distance?
According to things I have read, (I can't claim to have measured any fleas myself), the length of a flea's body varies from 0.06 to 0.13 inches depending on the variety of flea. They can jump a horizontal distance of more than a hundred times their body length.


Researchers wondered if fleas that live on cats (the Ctenocephalides felis variety) or those those live on dogs ( Ctenocephalides canis) could jump further. Studies conducted at the Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse in France found that dog fleas leap further and higher than cat fleas. I don't know if this discovery is important or useful in any way.

I suppose humans are just curious about the world around them and will always be asking questions about all sorts of things. Questions that would never occur to me about stuff that I don't think is important will come into the minds of others and someone may do some research on it.

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