F.L.U.D.D. and its Standard Nozzles
The “F.L.U.D.D”, or “Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device” becomes Mario’s companion at the beginning of the game, a device that acts like a water powered jetpack, giving him the ability to hover above the ground for short periods of time, and it can even talk! When observing Mario’s typical use of Fludd as a water-powered jetpack in the game, I have noticed that the water causes an initial acceleration that raises Mario a few inches off the ground, and then accelerates Mario upward a little longer, making him move higher off the ground at a constant velocity. For Fludd to lift Mario off the ground, the force Fludd exerts downward must surpass Mario’s weight force, meaning for the time that Mario is accelerating upward, Fludd would have to exert more than 883 N in water power. If you underestimated the power of Fludd based on its picture, you are certainly not alone. For a machine of Fludd’s stature to exert this much force would be impressive, and to be honest pushes the boundaries of what is physically achievable. This is roughly half the strength of actual water jetpacks such as the Jetlev-flyer, which exerts about 1900 N to hold someone up. Part of this is due to the fact that real life water jetpacks weigh much more than this lightweight device, mostly due to the materials and engineering of the mechanism, and thus would have to exert more force to hold someone at a steady height in the air. The Jetlev-flyer however also requires a tube system that pumps the water to the nozzle system to even operate, meaning that the machinery sitting on the user’s back cannot exert the forces necessary to hold someone up on its own like the Fludd can. Therefore, the reason one would feel skeptical about the physical accuracy of Fludd would be because of the amount of force it can exert based on its backpack size, light/comfortable weight, and lack of tubing system.
Although the power Fludd is able to exert to keep Mario in the air is not very believable, it still makes intuitive sense that water exerted out the bottom of the device would cause Mario to lift off the ground. According to Newton’s third law, every action has an opposite and equal reaction, so shooting water out of the nozzles in the downward direction would surely cause Mario to move upward. Contrary to popular belief, the reason Mario moves upward when the nozzles are active has nothing to do with whether the water hits the ground or not. As demonstrated by the video below, Mario can activate Fludd’s controls at any time and at any height above the ground, and still be able to remain at a steady height. Even if the water got disfigured by intense winds below him, it would have no effect on the functionality of the Fludd device or his height above the ground because the mass of the water times its acceleration is providing the force for the lift.
Although the power Fludd is able to exert to keep Mario in the air is not very believable, it still makes intuitive sense that water exerted out the bottom of the device would cause Mario to lift off the ground. According to Newton’s third law, every action has an opposite and equal reaction, so shooting water out of the nozzles in the downward direction would surely cause Mario to move upward. Contrary to popular belief, the reason Mario moves upward when the nozzles are active has nothing to do with whether the water hits the ground or not. As demonstrated by the video below, Mario can activate Fludd’s controls at any time and at any height above the ground, and still be able to remain at a steady height. Even if the water got disfigured by intense winds below him, it would have no effect on the functionality of the Fludd device or his height above the ground because the mass of the water times its acceleration is providing the force for the lift.
As demonstrated by the image above, Mario’s height, 1.8 m, can be filled up with 5 of Fludd’s nozzles. This means that the radius of Fludd’s nozzle is .18 meters, meaning that the area of exerted water for one Fludd nozzle is .03(pi) m^2. Since Fludd’s hovering features require two nozzles that split the work equally, Fludd’s forces are all being exerted by water that touches only .06pi square meters. In order for Fludd to hold Mario steady above the ground, the nozzles must have a pressure of 883 N per 0.06pi square meters, or 6.7 pounds per square inch. A real water-powered jetpack like the Jetlev-Flyer has nozzles that exert pressure that reaches a maximum of 60 pounds per square inch, a little less than 10 times the amount of Fludd’s nozzles, but the Jetlev flyer is also heavier. As you can see in the video above, Fludd’s water stream stays perfectly columnated, so it actually would retain the same amount of pounds per square inch. Fludd’s capabilities can still be easily doubted, for it is physically impossible for Fludd’s water to remain in a perfect cylindrical form for that height above the ground.
Newton’s third law also comes into play when Mario is using the squirt nozzle while standing still on the ground. If water is shooting out of the nozzle in front of Mario, Mario should experience an equal and opposite force that pushes him back. When I tested this hypothesis, I noticed that Mario adjusts his feet to get a better balance and grip on the ground to keep himself from being pushed backwards. Ignore his rotation.
Newton’s third law also comes into play when Mario is using the squirt nozzle while standing still on the ground. If water is shooting out of the nozzle in front of Mario, Mario should experience an equal and opposite force that pushes him back. When I tested this hypothesis, I noticed that Mario adjusts his feet to get a better balance and grip on the ground to keep himself from being pushed backwards. Ignore his rotation.
Unlike with the hover nozzle, the squirt nozzle’s water does not stay in a cylindrical form, but rather disperses in the air like a regular hose would. This most likely suggests that the squirt nozzle does not use as much pressure as the hover nozzles do. This would make sense, for if a singular hover nozzle supplies a force of about 441.5 N, and the squirt nozzle applies the same force, Mario would be pushed back at a force of half his weight and would certainly lose balance, or at least have to adjust his feet a little more than a centimeter.
Perhaps Fludd's greatest physical flaw is its water capacity. As demonstrated by the above video, Fludd can hold an incredible amount of water for its size - so much water, that at the end of that video, Fludd's tank is only half empty! With this in mind, it is hard to believe that a completely portable water jetpack of that size and lack of tubing system would be able to squirt water, perform the hover function, or perform any other nozzle functions, which will be explained in the Complex Nozzles tab.
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