Jet movement in nature and in technology is a very common occurrence. In nature, it occurs when one part of the body is separated at a certain speed from some other part. In this case, reactive force appears without the interaction of this organism with external bodies.
In order to understand what is at stake, it is best to turn to examples. Examples of jet propulsion in nature and technology are numerous. First, we will talk about how animals use it, and then about how it is used in technology.
Jellyfish, dragonfly larvae, plankton and mollusks
Many, swimming in the sea, met jellyfish. In the Black Sea, in any case, there are enough of them. However, not everyone thought that jellyfish were moving just by means of jet propulsion. Dragonfly larvae, as well as some representatives of marine plankton, also resort to this method. The efficiency of invertebrate marine animals that use it is often much higher than that of technical inventions.
Many mollusks move in the way that interests us. As an example, cuttlefish, squid, octopus. In particular, the scallop is able to move forward using a jet of water that is ejected from the shell when its flaps sharply compress.
And these are just a few examples from the life of the animal world that can be cited, revealing the theme: "Jet movement in everyday life, nature and technology."
How to cuttlefish
Cuttlefish is very interesting in this regard. Like many cephalopods, it moves in water using the following mechanism. Through a special funnel located in front of the body, as well as through the side slit, cuttlefish takes water into its gill cavity. Then she throws it vigorously through the funnel. Cuttlefish funnel directs the tube back or sideways. The movement can be carried out in different directions.
The way that salpa uses
Curious is the way that salpa uses. This is the name of a marine animal with a transparent body. Salpa draws water when moving, using the front hole for this. Water is in a wide cavity, and gills are located diagonally inside it. The hole closes when the salpa takes a large sip of water. Its transverse and longitudinal muscles contract, the entire body of the animal contracts. Through the rear opening, water is pushed out. The animal moves forward due to the reaction of the leaking jet.
Squids - "live torpedoes"
Perhaps the greatest interest is the jet engine that the squid has. This animal is considered the largest representative of invertebrates, living at great depths of the ocean. In jet navigation, squids have reached true perfection. Even the body of these animals resembles a rocket in its external forms. More truly, this rocket copies the squid, since it is to him that the indisputable primacy in this matter belongs. If you need to move slowly, the animal uses a large diamond-shaped fin for this, which bends from time to time. If a quick throw is needed, a jet engine comes to the rescue.
On all sides, the mantle surrounds the body of the mollusk - muscle tissue. Almost half of the total body volume of the animal falls on the volume of its cavity. The squid uses the mantle cavity to move, sucking water into it. Then he abruptly throws out the accumulated stream of water through a narrow nozzle. As a result of this, he moves backwards at high speed. At the same time, the squid puts all its 10 tentacles into a knot above the head in order to acquire a streamlined shape. The nozzle has a special valve, and the animal’s muscles can rotate it. Thus, the direction of movement changes.
Impressive Squid Speed
I must say that the squid engine is very economical. The speed that he is capable of developing can reach 60-70 km / h. Some researchers even believe that it can reach up to 150 km / h. As you can see, the squid is not in vain called a "living torpedo". He can turn in the right direction, bending down, up, left or right tentacles folded in a bundle.
How the squid controls movement
Since the steering wheel is very large compared to the size of the animal itself, in order for the squid to easily avoid a collision with an obstacle, even moving at maximum speed, only a slight movement of the steering wheel is enough. If you turn it sharply, the animal immediately rushes in the opposite direction. The squid bends back the end of the funnel and as a result of this can slide already head first. If he drives her to the right, he will be thrown to the left by a jet propulsion. However, when you need to swim quickly, the funnel is always right between the tentacles. In this case, the animal rushes its tail forward, like the run of a crawler, if it had the speed of a horse.
In the case when there is no need to rush, cuttlefish and squid swim, undulating with fins. Miniature waves run through them from front to back. Squids and cuttlefish glide gracefully. They only occasionally push themselves with a stream of water that is thrown out from under their mantle. The individual tremors that the mollusk receives during the eruption of jets of water are clearly visible at such moments.
Flying squid
Some cephalopods can accelerate to 55 km / h. It seems that no one has taken direct measurements, but we can call such a figure based on the range and flight speed of flying squids. It turns out that there are such. Squid stenoteutis is the best pilot of all mollusks. English sailors call it a flying squid (flying squid). This animal, the photo of which is presented above, has a small size, approximately from a herring. He so quickly pursues fish that he often jumps out of the water, carrying an arrow above its surface. He also uses this trick when he is in danger from predators - mackerels and tuna. Having developed maximum reactive thrust in the water, the squid starts in the air, and then flies over 50 meters above the waves. At the same time, the apogee of its flight is so high that often flying squids fall on the decks of ships. The height of 4-5 meters for them is by no means a record. Sometimes flying squids soar even higher.
Dr. Rhys, a mollusk researcher from the UK, described in his scientific article a representative of these animals whose body length was only 16 cm. However, he was able to fly a fair distance through the air, after which he landed on the bridge of the yacht. And the height of this bridge was almost 7 meters!
There are times when a lot of flying squids hit the ship right away. Trebius Niger, an ancient writer, once told a sad story about a ship that seemed to be unable to withstand the weight of these marine animals and sank. Interestingly, squids are able to take off even without acceleration.
Flying octopus
Octopuses also have the ability to fly. Jean Verani, a French naturalist, watched as one of them dispersed in his aquarium, and then suddenly jumped out of the water. The animal described an arc of about 5 meters in the air, and then flopped into the aquarium. The octopus, gaining the speed necessary for a jump, was moving not only due to jet propulsion. He also rowed with his tentacles. Octopuses are baggy, so they swim worse than squids, but at critical moments these animals can give odds to the best sprinters. California Aquarium workers wanted to take a photo of an octopus that attacks a crab. However, the octopus, rushing to its prey, developed such a speed that the photos, even when using the special mode, were blurry. This means that the throw lasted a few fractions of a second!
However, octopuses usually swim rather slowly. Scientist Joseph Saynl, who investigated the migration of octopus, found that an octopus, which is 0.5 m in size, swims at an average speed of about 15 km / h. Each stream of water that he throws out of the funnel propels him forward (more precisely, backward, since he swims backward) somewhere by 2-2.5 m.
"Squirting cucumber"
Reactive motion in nature and in technology can be considered and using examples from the world of plants to illustrate it. One of the most famous is the ripened fruits of the so-called mad cucumber. They bounce off the stalk at the slightest touch. Then, from the hole formed as a result of this, a special adhesive liquid containing seeds is thrown with great force. The cucumber itself flies in the opposite direction to a distance of 12 m.
The law of conservation of momentum
Be sure to tell about him, considering the jet movement in nature and in technology. Knowing the law of conservation of momentum allows us to change, in particular, our own speed of movement, if we are in open space. For example, you are sitting in a boat and you have some stones with you. If you throw them in a certain direction, the boat will move in the opposite direction. In outer space, this law also applies. However, rocket engines are used there for this purpose .
What other examples of jet propulsion in nature and technology can be noted? The law of conservation of momentum is very well illustrated by the example of a gun.
As you know, a shot from it is always accompanied by recoil. Let's say the weight of the bullet would be equal to the weight of the gun. In this case, they would fly apart at the same speed. Recoil happens because a reactive force is created, since there is a thrown mass. Thanks to this force, movement is ensured both in airless space and in air. The greater the speed and mass of the outgoing gases, the greater the recoil force that our shoulder feels is greater. Accordingly, the reactive force is higher, the stronger the reaction of the gun.
Dreams of space travel
The jet movement in nature and in technology has for many years been a source of new ideas for scientists. For many centuries, mankind has dreamed of flying into space. The use of jet propulsion in nature and technology, it must be assumed, has by no means exhausted itself.
It all started with a dream. Science fiction writers several centuries ago offered us various means to achieve this desired goal. In the 17th century, Cyrano de Bergerac, a French writer, created the story of a flight to the moon. His hero reached the Earth satellite using an iron wagon. Over this construction, he constantly threw a strong magnet. The wagon, attracted to it, rose higher and higher above the Earth. In the end, she reached the moon. Another famous character, Baron Munchausen, climbed the moon along the bean stalk.
Of course, at that time little was still known about how the use of jet propulsion in nature and technology can make life easier. But the flight of imagination certainly opened up new horizons.
On the road to outstanding discovery
In China at the end of the 1st millennium AD e. invented rocket propulsion. The latter were simply bamboo tubes that were filled with gunpowder. These rockets fired for fun. A jet engine was used in one of the first automobile projects. This idea belonged to Newton.
About how reactive motion in nature and in technology arises, N.I. Kibalchich. This is a Russian revolutionary, the author of the first project of a jet aircraft, which is designed to fly a person on it. The revolutionary, unfortunately, was executed on April 3, 1881. Kibalchich was accused of participating in the assassination attempt on Alexander II. Already in prison, in anticipation of the execution of the death sentence, he continued to study such an interesting phenomenon as the reactive movement in nature and in technology that occurs when a part of an object is separated. As a result of these studies, he developed his own project. Kibalchich wrote that this idea supports him in his position. He is ready to calmly meet his death, knowing that such an important discovery will not perish with him.
Realization of the idea of space flight
The manifestation of jet propulsion in nature and technology was continued to be studied by K. E. Tsiolkovsky (his photo is presented above). As early as the beginning of the 20th century, this great Russian scientist proposed the idea of using rockets for space missions. His article on this issue appeared in 1903. It presented a mathematical equation that has become crucial for astronautics. It is known in our time as the “Tsiolkovsky formula”. This equation described the motion of a body having a variable mass. In his subsequent works, he presented a diagram of a rocket engine running on liquid fuel. Tsiolkovsky, studying the use of jet propulsion in nature and technology, developed a multi-stage rocket design. He also owns the idea of the possibility of creating entire space cities in near-Earth orbit. These are the discoveries the scientist came to when he studied the jet movement in nature and technology. Missiles, as Tsiolkovsky showed, are the only devices that can overcome gravity. He defined a rocket as a mechanism having a jet engine that uses the fuel and oxidizer on it. This apparatus transforms the chemical energy of a fuel, which becomes the kinetic energy of a gas stream. The rocket itself begins to move in the opposite direction.
Finally, scientists, having studied the reactive motion of bodies in nature and technology, switched to practice. The large-scale task of realizing the long-held dream of mankind lay ahead. And a group of Soviet scientists, led by academician S.P. Korolev, coped with it. She implemented the idea of Tsiolkovsky. The first artificial satellite of our planet was launched in the USSR on October 4, 1957. Naturally, a rocket was used.
Yu. A. Gagarin (pictured above) was the man who had the honor of being the first to fly in outer space. This important event for the world took place on April 12, 1961. Gagarin on the satellite ship "Vostok" circled the globe. The USSR was the first state whose rockets reached the moon, circled around it and photographed a side invisible from Earth. In addition, it was the Russians who first visited Venus. They brought scientific instruments to the surface of this planet. American astronaut Neil Armstrong is the first person to visit the surface of the moon. He landed on her July 20, 1969. In 1986, Vega-1 and Vega-2 (ships belonging to the USSR) examined at close range Halley's comet, which approaches the Sun only once every 76 years. Space exploration continues ...
As you can see, physics is a very important and useful science. Jet movement in nature and technology is just one of the interesting issues that are addressed in it. And the achievements of this science are very, very significant.
How jet propulsion is used today in nature and in technology
Particularly important discoveries have been made in physics in the last few centuries. While nature remains virtually unchanged, technology is developing rapidly. Nowadays, the principle of jet propulsion is widely used not only by various animals and plants, but also in astronautics and aviation. There is no environment in outer space that the body could use to interact in order to change the modulus and direction of its speed. That is why only missiles can be used for flights in airless space.
Today, jet propulsion is actively used in everyday life, nature and technology. It is no longer a mystery, as before. However, humanity should not stop there. Ahead of new horizons. I would like to believe that the jet movement in nature and technology, briefly described in the article, will inspire someone to new discoveries.