Power of swimming (mechanical work done per unit time)

Range 3.4e-9 (0.004–0.09% of total energy expenditure) J/hour
Organism Ciliate Paramecium caudatum
Reference Katsu-Kimura Y, Nakaya F, Baba SA, Mogami Y. Substantial energy expenditure for locomotion in ciliates verified by means of simultaneous measurement of oxygen consumption rate and swimming speed. J Exp Biol. 2009 Jun212(Pt 12):1819-24. doi: 10.1242/jeb.028894. p.1819 right column top paragraphPubMed ID19482999
Comments "Mechanical work done by swimming Paramecium can be estimated on the basis of Stokes’ law. For a sphere with a diameter of 50µm moving with a speed of 1mm/sec, which is one of the simplest models for P. caudatum, the power of swimming (the mechanical work done per unit time) has been calculated to be 3.4X10^–9J/hour. This power calculated on the basis of Stokes’ law, which is called Stokes power in this paper (StP), is only 0.004–0.09% of the total energy expenditure. This very small percentage, however, does not correctly represent the efficiency of swimming of Paramecium. In order to estimate the efficiency, mechanical work should be compared with the energy used only for swimming."
Entered by Uri M
ID 110783