from the Bzzzzzzzz-Bzzzzz-Bzzzzzzzzzzzz dept.
Flapping Wings And The Science Of How Bees Can Fly:
Regular planes have fixed wings that are, for all intents and purposes, relatively rigid. There is some structural flexibility, but from an aerodynamic standpoint, it doesn't have a significant effect. These wings generate lift when moving through the air at speed, thanks to their airfoil shape. Increase the angle of the wing relative to the airflow, for example, by pitching up the aircraft, and the wing will generate more lift. This angle is called the angle of attack. Increase it too far, and the flow will separate from the wing, and it will stop producing lift entirely. This is called a stall. Without lift, planes fall out of the sky.
Bees, like birds, and many insects, don't have fixed wings – instead, they flap their wings to generate both propulsion and lift. The wings are flapped in an incredibly complex motion, with the wing rotating throughout the downstroke and upstroke in order to maximise efficiency. The key to creating high lift with a flapping wing is down to a variety of complex fluid mechanisms.
Journal Reference:
Diana D. Chin, David Lentink. Flapping wing aerodynamics: from insects to vertebrates [$], Journal of Experimental Biology (DOI: 10.1242/jeb.042317)
(Score: 3, Funny) by rigrig on Wednesday February 24 2021, @12:14PM (4 children)
Everybody knows it has been conclusively proven that bees can't fly.
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by WeekendMonkey on Wednesday February 24 2021, @01:32PM (1 child)
But no one told the bees. Until someone works out how to do that, they don't have a problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 24 2021, @07:30PM
Sort of a coyote time that extends for millennia.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Coyote%20time [urbandictionary.com]
I can't believe that coyote time doesn't have a wikipedia page...
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 24 2021, @02:16PM
http://www.paghat.com/beeflight.html [paghat.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 25 2021, @05:27AM
There's this thing called Reynolds number for fluids. It compares pressure effects with viscous effects. For insects, flying slowly, the Reynolds number is very low == viscous effects dominate.
Bees don't fly...at their scale, they what they do is more like swimming through the air.
(Score: 4, Informative) by looorg on Wednesday February 24 2021, @02:23PM (1 child)
Until the birds and the bees gets a jet-engine, or just any engine, I guess they just better keep on flapping. The only thing interesting here would be if we could somehow translate bird/bee/insect flying to human flight -- perhaps as some kind of craft that require less power to achieve flight. I just assume the reason our planes have, or got, wings in the first place is that we looked at the birds and tried to mimic what they had, some things worked and others didn't. Otherwise this whole study it's just a curiosity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 24 2021, @09:16PM
First thing you need to do is lose some weight, so that's not gonna happen.
(Score: 2) by Rich on Wednesday February 24 2021, @04:21PM
Some ingenious Japanese guy built an RC "flappter" modeled after the (imaginary, hand-drawn) ones in "Laputa: Castle in the Sky".
Seeing is believing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Nw_TbASgg [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Wednesday February 24 2021, @10:04PM (2 children)
That implies that there exist, somewhere, a fixed wing insect. What species would that be?
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 25 2021, @01:37AM (1 child)
A mosquito -- this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito [wikipedia.org]
Very fast!
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Thursday February 25 2021, @09:22AM
Yes, of course.....hahahaha Have a touche'
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.