Swimming of Microscopic Organisms

Nguyenho Ho October 10, 2013

The waving surface representation is of the form y0 = b sin(kx t) where b is the amplitude, k is the wave number, is the waves angular frequency equals to 2/T for T is the period of the wave. 2 Wave number=k = is dened to be the number of wavelengths per 2 units of distance, for is the wavelength. The velocity of the wave is determined as v= = k T

Assume the wave sheet is inextensible and the amplitude of the wave small will oscillate in a path which is nearly parallel to the axis of y

0.1

Viscous Fluid on Both Sides of the Sheet

The sheet is in contact with uid on both sides since we are considering the microorganisms. That means Move at the same speed V at innity. The rate of dissipation of energy is 2W , where W = dy0 Yy dt

Waves immersed in the viscous uid at a rate 2 2 b2 /2 times the wave velocity and in the opposite direction

 What does this mean? If the sheet is inextensible and the amplitude of the wave small, material particles will oscillate in a path which is nearly parallel to the axis of y , though, as will be seen later, their actual paths are narrow gures of 8. For equation (5), why do we need the condition bk to be small. How does the pressure relate to the stream function

0.2

Mechanical Reaction Between Neighboring Waving Tails

When two or more spermatozoa are close to one another there is a strong tendency for their tails to vibrate in unison It might be that The stresses set up in the viscous uid between neighboring tails may have a component which would tend to force their waves into phase. = Analyze the eld of the ow between two waving sheets when their waves are not in phase in order to nd out whether the viscous stresses are the reason that the two or more spermatozoa move synchronously. The mean rate of dissipation of energy between the two sheets is equal to the mean rate at which the sheets do work The eort required to make the tails wave in unison is in this case only onethousandth of that necessary to make them wave if out of phase Direct eect 1 y1 p1 = 2kb2 C sin 2 This implies that y1 p1 is negative The direct eect of pressure to increase the frequency of the sheet y1 = b sin(z + ) 1 y2 p2 = 2kb2 C sin 2 This implies that y2 p2 is negative The direct eect of pressure to increase the frequency of the sheet y2 = b sin(z ) Since the phase of y1 lags behind that of y2 , the direct eect of the reaction between the two sheets is to increase the velocity of the waves in sheet y1 and decrease that of the waves in y2 .