Average speed of a human
The speed of the sperm would be necessary to know the amount of the chemical inhibitors necessary to immobilize it. If the sperm could chemically be slowed down to a point where it is immobilized and is unable to sustain life functions, the "morning after"pill could become the "right after intercourse"pill. So why would anyone want to know what the swimming speed of sperm is? If scientists knew the exact or, at least, the approximate value, it could possibly lead to new breakthroughs in contraceptive technology. The hydrolysis of a single ATP molecules produces 10 −19 joules of energy so cellular motion requires very little energy expenditure. The flagellum is the longest part of the 25 µm of the cell and surprisingly requires only 2 × 10 −18 watts of power to propel it. Cells generally experience a Reynolds number of less than 1.Ī sperm cell uses its flagellum, commonly referred to as a "tail", to propel itself toward the female oocyte, or "egg". This number is equal to the inertial force acting on the object divided by the viscous force acting on it. The Reynolds number of an organism determines how easily viscous drag affects the organism's motion. The length of the flagellum is one of the factors that determine the swimming speed of the sperm cell.Īlso, due to a sperm cell's tiny size (25 µm) and the fluid-filled environment, the viscosity of the sperm cell's surroundings produces the greatest effect on its swimming speed rather than inertial forces that larger organisms would encounter. It has only one mode of transportation - its flagellum, which is powered by a mitochondrion. A sperm cell always travels through a liquid medium whether it is within the male or female reproductive systems. The speed of a sperm cell is never constant and is affected mostly by its physiology and environment. "The mean speeds predicted by the 'probability after' method compared favourably with the other methods (range 68 µm/s to 162 µm/s)." "Methods of measuring swimming speed of spermatozoa." Journal of Reproductive Fertility. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production. Swimming speed and fertilisation rates of ram sperm from high and low prolificacy populations. "The straight line velocity (VSL) did not have a normal distribution (P < 0.01) and ranged between 0 and 35 µm/s." A first prospective study of the individual straight line velocity of the spermatozoon and its influences on the fertilization rate after intracytoplasmic sperm injection. "Average swimming speed of sperm: 8 inches per hour or 56.44 µm/s"
"Sperm: Average Speed: 1–4 millimeters per minute"īates, Karl Leif. "Your Privates: An Owner's Manual." Men's Health Magazine. "If the cell has a radius of 1 µm and is traveling at 10 µm/sec, the power consumed is 2 × 10 −11 ergs/sec (2 × 10 −18 J/sec)."