Nemo: "I can do this, Dad!" Can he?

In "Finding Nemo," a huge school of large fish are caught in a net. They escape when Nemo instructs them to all swim downwards, overloading and breaking the fisherman's crane, which projects out horizontally over the water. Assuming fish would do this, would it work? Give the fish every benefit of the doubt. This is, after all, a kids' cartoon.

2007-08-12T12:54:50Z

As you know, fish have a neutral density. They weigh almost exactly the same as the water they displace. When you pick up an object under water, it seems light because the water tries to float it, and nothing lighter than water has any apparent weight at all. When the fish push up against the water to flee, they are lifting the water and reducing its weight, so all the apparent weight added by the fish swimming down is counteracted by the reduced weight of the water they are pushing upward.

Captain2007-08-12T11:17:00Z

Favorite Answer

No. I'm positive the crane is strong enough to withstand pressure exerted by fish swimming downward.....Besides, I don't think fish would be smart enough to swim down in the first place....or listen to a little clownfish...

Anonymous2007-08-12T12:17:44Z

I saw the movie, but I don't remember all of it well enough to remember this scent. If the net was under water, then yes, it's possible. If the net was above water, then no, and yes I realize that fish can't 'swim' out of water, but in animation sometimes they take a little poetic license with these things so I'm allowing for that.

:)

RickB2007-08-12T11:15:10Z

Yes (if the fish are very strong!)

They can do this because by flapping their fins and tails, they can exert a force against the water in any direction they choose. If they do that to drive themselves downward, they can exert a force which is greater than their weight.

All this is possible because water is a pretty dense substance so it's easy to "push against."