If you can answer this question, youare the smartest person in the wold

[shadowman]

Can anyone explain to me exactly HOW a bumblebee is able to fly? I have studied it, and it is scientifically impossible for it to fly because of the weight of its body far surpasses the ablilty of its wings to cary that load. Do your own research and give me your findings, but I am sure this is a dificult cunundrum. thanks. :surprise:

 

[arildno]

It doesn't, it has an optical illusions maker right between its eyes.
(Actually a bumblebee is a tiny snake, that's why it hurts like hell when it bites you)

 

[ZapperZ]

Can anyone explain to me exactly HOW a bumblebee is able to fly? I have studied it, and it is scientifically impossible for it to fly because of the weight of its body far surpasses the ablilty of its wings to cary that load. Do your own research and give me your findings, but I am sure this is a dificult cunundrum. thanks. :surprise:

Actually, the claim that a bumblebee cannot fly is based on a FIXED WING model. The side and shape of the bumblebee wing when compared to the body weight does not produce enough of a lift. However, a bumblebee does NOT just fly with a fixed wing. High speed video photography has shown that a bumblebee flaps its wing in some sort of a Figure 8 pattern [someone in Biology can correct me here if I'm wrong]. This is a much more complex mechanism that can add extra lift because the wing is cutting through the air faster and with added downward stroke.

So what do I win as the "smartest" ass... er... person in the world?

Zz.

http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/engrMagazine/magazine.cfm?issue=SUMMER2002&page_number=1&section=feature2

 

[shadowman]

yes, not only do you win the smart ass award, you win me the answer to my teacher's question... by the way, what do you think of light propulsion? feasible or not...just out of curiosity...

 

[shadowman]

thank you for your insightful and completely scientific answer to my question.

 

[Chi Meson]

... by the way, what do you think of light propulsion? ...

I like it. I think it's nice.

 

[Chi Meson]

Sorry 'bout that.

What are you referring to by "light propulsion." Do you mean like "propelling a spaceship by firing light out of its engines"? Seems like a horrendous waste of energy to me.

 

[arildno]

shadowman: All right, sorry about the dumb answer
(Guess I'm not the smartest guy in the world, after all)

If you're interested in the flight of insects in general, there was a while back in the journal "Nature" a long article on the flight mechanisms used by the butterfly
"Vanessa atlantis"
(It's called the "Admiral butterfly" in Norwegian, don't know the English name, though)
Unfortunately, I can't remember which issue it appeared..

 

[LURCH]

I have always fun is a particularly fascinating field of study. As I understand it, will easily be not only reduced drag with their figure eight pattern, but my coming together at the top of a stroke I believe they also generate a vortex directly above the bee itself. In this way, the bee decreases air pressure not only above the wing, but along the top side of its entire body generating an additional lift.

Regarding "light propulsion"; I think that it is vastly superior to heavy propulsion for most applications.

I think you're talking about the use of lasers for launching ships into space, right? It appears to have genuine potential, bvut I think a big steam catapult like on an aircraft carrier would be cheaper and more reliable.

 

[Matt Jacques]

There was a physics problem about light propulsion in my physics book. If an astronaut weighing 100 kg fired a 1 kw laser away from him, how long would it take him to move 20 meters? I don't recall the answer exactly, but it was around 10 hours.

If instead he threw a show lace, he would get there in only two hours or so :P