Swimming in Air

[NavajoEverclear]

Well Birds sorta do, but they don't do the same as fish. What kind of density requirements would an organism need to be able to swim through air the same as fish do through water? Density would be the issue right?

 

O coarse whatever alteration result to make this possible would probably make an animal so fragile it'd never survive, but tell me about it anyway.

[Skye]

It would need to be about the same density as air, about 1.3 kg/m^3. Since most living things have a density close to that of water (which will be around 1000 kg/m^3) they would need to be nearly a thousand times lighter.

[Tesseract]

Well Birds sorta do' date=' but they don't do the same as fish. What kind of density requirements would an organism need to be able to swim through air the same as fish do through water? Density would be the issue right?

 

O coarse whatever alteration result to make this possible would probably make an animal so fragile it'd never survive, but tell me about it anyway.[/quote']

 

What?why would you want to do that it would be very slow and pointless...

[Sayonara]

What?why would you want to do that it would be very slow and pointless...

Unless it pertains to life that evolves in gas giants.

[Tesseract]

Unless it pertains to life that evolves in gas giants.

 

why dont we talk about earth, its much closer.

[YT2095]

do a search for "Reynolds number" that will tell you all you need to know, although it`s often used with fluids, Air molecules apply here too

 

here`s a simple calculator: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/21_573qframed.html

 

this may also help: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/airsim.html

 

 

enjoy

[LucidDreamer]

A creature with so little density that it floats in air and thus is capable of swimming would have allot more problems than just being fragile. It could not have proteins for structure or enzymatic reactions nor could it have fats or carbohydrates to store energy.

I propose a different type of creature that could move through the air like it was swimming. A creature with a large bubble like cavity that it fills with a gas that is lighter than air, such as hydrogen. It could make more hydrogen inside the cavity or release it to move up and down. Instead of wings it could have flippers to move it around. It would resemble something like a bloated puffer fish.

[NavajoEverclear]

Unless it pertains to life that evolves in gas giants.

 

Is that kind of life possible? I've thought about that, theoretically evolution could occur anywhere there is enough chemical complexity for a code to begin replicating itself and improving(evolving) on previous generations. There must be other chemicals that are capable of making such complex relationships other than those on earth

 

I like you idea lucid--- so this organism would have about the same density as other earth lifeforms, except that it has blimp powers and uses fins to propell itself/

 

I don't understand these forms of life don't already exist, isn't their airborn bacteria? wouldn't they evolve for being capable of living higher and higher in the atmosphere, this would be an advantage because if one group of bacteria live on a higher level than the others, there would be less competition for resources, so they'd thrive. I forgot what it's called when bacteria's are engulfed in membranes and start making eukaryotic cells, but that would happen, then you'd have colonies of airborn protists, and then you're set for all the other kingdoms to evolve. ------ I must be making som incorrect assumption somewhere since it is evident that such creatures don't exist, but doesn't it sound logical?

[Skye]

I don't understand these forms of life don't already exist, isn't their airborn bacteria? wouldn't they evolve for being capable of living higher and higher in the atmosphere, this would be an advantage because if one group of bacteria live on a higher level than the others, there would be less competition for resources, so they'd thrive.

The problem is that there's not much up there. I think fungal spores reach the highest altitudes, they are the best designed for aerial dispersal. Think of puff ball mushrooms.

I forgot what it's called when bacteria's are engulfed in membranes and start making eukaryotic cells

Endosymbiosis.