No machine can be 100% efficient – and Hummingbirds (Selasphorus calliope) are no exception. As a result, when they flap their wings (typically at around 50Hz) they generate considerable quantities of heat. To find out how much, investigators at the Department of Biology, George Fox University, OR, and the Division of Biological Sciences, University of […]
Tag: hover
Pyramids can fly, under certain circumstances
Pyramids can fly, under certain circumstances. This new study explains: “Intrinsic Stability of a Body Hovering in an Oscillating Airflow,” Bin Liu, Leif Ristroph, Annie Weathers, Stephen Childress, and Jun Zhang, Physical Review Letters, 108, 068103 (2012). The authors, at New York University, explain that in their experimental setup [pictured below]: “weight support and orientational […]
Artificial flying turkey & pie-delivery system
A display of Yankee ingenuity, and perhaps of other things as well: a remote-control flying mechanical turkey designed to drop pies on people’s heads. (Thanks to investigator Caroline Cox for bringing it to our attention.)