Physics
Jet propulsion is most effective when the Reynolds number is high - that is, the object being propelled is relatively large and passing through a low-viscosity medium.
In biology, the most efficient jets are pulsed, rather than continuous: at least when the Reynolds number is greater than 6.
Read more about this topic: Jet Propulsion
Famous quotes containing the word physics:
“... it is as true in morals as in physics that all force is imperishable; therefore the consequences of a human action never cease.”
—Tennessee Claflin (1846–1923)
“He who is conversant with the supernal powers will not worship these inferior deities of the wind, waves, tide, and sunshine. But we would not disparage the importance of such calculations as we have described. They are truths in physics because they are true in ethics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We must be physicists in order ... to be creative since so far codes of values and ideals have been constructed in ignorance of physics or even in contradiction to physics.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)