1
00:00:03,471 --> 00:00:07,598
? [music] ?

2
00:00:11,463 --> 00:00:14,565
KIDS: Our World!

3
00:00:16,230 --> 00:00:23,288
Globey, allow me introduce you
to my alter ego... MEGA EVAN!

4
00:00:24,936 --> 00:00:27,960
That’s right... I’m MEGA EVAN!
Exploring the

5
00:00:27,961 --> 00:00:31,530
universe...defending the
Globey!

6
00:00:31,531 --> 00:00:34,433
OK. Actually, I’m wearing this
super suit because it

7
00:00:34,435 --> 00:00:37,170
kind of reminded me of the
super suit NASA helped to

8
00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,838
develop for the Olympic
swimmers.

9
00:00:39,908 --> 00:00:43,008
That’s right! NASA worked with
Speedo in the development

10
00:00:43,076 --> 00:00:46,613
of an amazing suit for Olympic
swimmers. But this isn’t just a
bathing suit;

11
00:00:46,681 --> 00:00:50,916
it uses advanced technology to
help swimmers move through the
water faster.

12
00:00:50,918 --> 00:00:55,121
And the swimmers wearing these
suits set all kinds of  Olympic
records.

13
00:00:55,123 --> 00:00:59,125
So how did NASA, who
specializes in Air and Space
technology,

14
00:00:59,126 --> 00:01:02,128
get involved in testing a
swimsuit for Olympians?

15
00:01:02,130 --> 00:01:06,900
Let’s ask engineer Steve
Wilkinson, who worked on the
project at NASA Langley.

16
00:01:06,901 --> 00:01:09,801
STEVE WILKINSON: NASA has a lot
of  experience with

17
00:01:09,803 --> 00:01:14,073
trying to reduce the drag force
on airplanes.

18
00:01:14,075 --> 00:01:17,543
The engineer who approached us,
the other aerospace engineer

19
00:01:17,545 --> 00:01:20,813
who approached us, is working
for the Speedo corporation,

20
00:01:20,815 --> 00:01:24,450
asked for our help in designing
a swimsuit

21
00:01:24,451 --> 00:01:29,721
that has some of the same
features that we use in our
airplane research.

22
00:01:31,926 --> 00:01:36,028
How can you test a material
that’s designed to be used in

23
00:01:36,030 --> 00:01:39,698
a swimming pool, how can you
test that in air?  Well, it’s

24
00:01:39,700 --> 00:01:44,570
a little game we play with the
speed.  A swimmer, a good

25
00:01:44,571 --> 00:01:48,808
swimmer in an Olympic event
will swim at about 2 meters per
second.

26
00:01:48,810 --> 00:01:54,013
It turns out, if we run our
wind tunnel at about 15 times

27
00:01:54,015 --> 00:01:56,883
faster or 30 meters per second,

28
00:01:56,885 --> 00:02:01,420
we can simulate the conditions
in the swimming pool.

29
00:02:01,421 --> 00:02:04,890
This is a sample of one of the
fabrics that we

30
00:02:04,891 --> 00:02:08,761
received from Speedo to test in
this study.  What we do is

31
00:02:08,763 --> 00:02:12,298
we take fabric such as this and
we stretch them over a

32
00:02:12,300 --> 00:02:18,738
metal frame and this is the
model that we place in the wind
tunnel.

33
00:02:18,740 --> 00:02:22,975
So we set this in the tunnel
like this.  The flow moves

34
00:02:22,976 --> 00:02:27,313
across the surface, tries to
push it along and measure that
force.

35
00:02:27,315 --> 00:02:31,216
Everything has to be referenced
to the optimal surface,

36
00:02:31,218 --> 00:02:34,553
a very smooth surface and what
we use for that is this

37
00:02:34,555 --> 00:02:38,725
aluminum plate that is polished
so it has no roughness on it at
all.

38
00:02:38,726 --> 00:02:42,995
And that’s what we compare our
fabric measurements to.

39
00:02:42,996 --> 00:02:45,865
This is the best case right
here.  What we tried to do

40
00:02:45,866 --> 00:02:48,901
with the fabric is create a
fabric that has a drag as

41
00:02:48,903 --> 00:02:51,971
close to this flat plate as
possible.

42
00:02:51,973 --> 00:02:55,708
And what Speedo found out was
that this particular coated

43
00:02:55,710 --> 00:03:00,413
fabric is actually very close
to the smooth flat plate.

44
00:03:00,415 --> 00:03:04,416
EVAN: So Mr. Wilkinson, how
does testing fabrics in a

45
00:03:04,418 --> 00:03:08,020
wind tunnel help make a person
swim faster?

46
00:03:08,021 --> 00:03:10,590
STEVE: The whole idea of this
research was to develop a

47
00:03:10,591 --> 00:03:13,225
fabric with the lowest possible
drag.

48
00:03:13,226 --> 00:03:17,830
Drag is the force on any moving
body that restrains

49
00:03:17,831 --> 00:03:21,266
its motion as it moves.  Think
about driving down the

50
00:03:21,268 --> 00:03:24,536
road and sticking your hand out
the window- if you put

51
00:03:24,538 --> 00:03:29,541
your palm facing the wind,
you’ll feel a very strong force
on your hand.

52
00:03:29,543 --> 00:03:32,811
This is called a pressure drag,
or pressure drag force.

53
00:03:32,813 --> 00:03:35,948
And it tries to push your hand
back.

54
00:03:35,950 --> 00:03:39,351
If you turned your hand
parallel to the wind you

55
00:03:39,353 --> 00:03:43,523
feel a much lower drag force. 
This is what we call a friction
drag.

56
00:03:43,525 --> 00:03:48,661
And this is what Speedo was
trying to reduce when they came
to us.

57
00:03:48,663 --> 00:03:52,065
EVAN: So drag happens when an
object moves through air or
water,

58
00:03:52,066 --> 00:03:55,435
slowing the object down. The
less drag, the easier

59
00:03:55,436 --> 00:03:58,070
something can move through the
air or water. For example,

60
00:03:58,071 --> 00:04:01,573
air planes and cars experience
drag as they move through the
air.

61
00:04:01,575 --> 00:04:04,610
Boats experience drag as they
move through the water.

62
00:04:04,611 --> 00:04:07,080
Swimmers are no different.  As
they move through the water,

63
00:04:07,081 --> 00:04:10,616
drag slows them down.  Get it?

64
00:04:10,618 --> 00:04:13,886
I know NASA has developed space
suits for decades,

65
00:04:13,955 --> 00:04:17,056
but who would have thought they
could apply their know-

66
00:04:17,125 --> 00:04:20,793
how to help reduce drag on
Olympic swimsuits. Amazing!

67
00:04:20,861 --> 00:04:23,663
Hey Mr. Wilkinson, did you get
to meet any Olympians?

68
00:04:23,665 --> 00:04:28,668
STEVE: I got to meet Michael
Phelps and Katie Hoff,

69
00:04:28,670 --> 00:04:32,171
and Natalie Coughlin while I
was there.

70
00:04:32,173 --> 00:04:35,941
They were very nice people and
they love the suit.

71
00:04:35,943 --> 00:04:39,778
EVAN: Nasa windtunnels have
been used to test all kinds of
things.

72
00:04:39,780 --> 00:04:45,951
Airplanes, rockets, even Nascar
racecars.  And now swimming
suit materials.

73
00:04:45,953 --> 00:04:48,788
So the next time you go
swimming think about how

74
00:04:48,790 --> 00:04:52,225
drag effects your speed as you
move through the water.

75
00:04:52,226 --> 00:04:56,128
What do you think Globey, you
think  NASA could help me with
MY super suit.

76
00:04:56,130 --> 00:05:02,230
Yeah, I think so too. For now,
this is MEGA EVAN signing off!

77
00:05:06,168 --> 00:05:09,960
? [music] ?

78
00:05:14,643 --> 00:05:19,015
KIDS: Our World!