Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-soft-condensed-matter-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/paper-1/1/c/solution

TODO: user-deferred biology. The bacterium-specific numerical estimate and assumptions are deferred.
The independent fluid-mechanical relation is
where is fluid mass density, dynamic viscosity and kinematic viscosity. For a generic rigid sphere, the convention must specify whether is its diameter or radius; their Reynolds numbers differ by a factor of two. The ratio compares advective inertia with viscous stress gradients . Small Reynolds number supports a creeping-flow approximation when unsteady fluid inertia is also negligible. No organism-specific size, speed or propulsion calculation is made here.

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