Simple Flow Tanks for Research and Teaching

Whether from fashion or force of habit, few biologists devote much attention to the characteristics and consequences of fluids in motion. Few laboratories consider a flow tank an essential item in their experimental armamentarium. Yet most organisms both live in and contain moving fluids, and many of their features reflect adaptation to local fluid motion. The fluids of common concern are, of course, air and water; they are moved for experimental purposes with wind tunnels and flow tanks. Present attention will focus on the latter, because wind tunnels have been discussed elsewhere (Vogel 1969). Our general points are, first, that flow tanks may be constructed without great expenditure of time or money and, second, that they are exceedingly useful in a wide variety of investigations, demonstrations, and student projects in several different areas of biology. In particular, we wish to suggest a specific, highly flexible design for flow tanks.

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