The Momentum of Swimming Dolphins

Students will apply the conservation of momentum to dolphin swimming. They will examine the concept of a closed system as it relates to a dolphin and the water surrounding it. This lesson should take approximately one 50-minute class period and is appropriate for an introductory high school physics class.

Related resources

Topics

  • SP5
  • HS-PS2-2
  • fluid dynamics
  • hydrodynamics
  • engineering
  • computational science
  • closed system
  • conservation of momentum
  • conserved
  • mass
  • momentum
  • velocity
  • vortices