Effect of viscosity on swimming velocity of bacteria.
A theory is given for the swimming velocity of a flagellated bacterium and its variation with the viscosity of the surrounding fluid. The theory is shown to agree fairly well with the experimental observations of Schneider and Doetsch on Pseudomonas aeruginosa for viscosities greater than 2 centipoise. However, it fails to account for the decrease of velocity observed when the viscosity decreases from 2 to 1.1 centipoise.
D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D002465:Cell Movement; D005407:Flagella / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000502:physiology; D014783:Viscosity