Category: student post

Are hummingbirds just insects with feathers?

October 10, 2011 at 6:53 pm

While hummingbirds are, of course, birds, which make up the Trochilidae family, their aerodynamic characteristics have been more closely attributed to insects.  Not only can the hummingbird hover indefinitely, in midair, it also makes up the only group of birds that possess the ability to fly backwards.  The humming bird, therefore, takes flapping flight to […]

By Colby Mann | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Small Seeds Inspire Big Ideas

October 10, 2011 at 4:53 pm

Many of us can remember as a child being fascinated by maple seeds, with their single wing, spinning gracefully to the ground. As it turns out, scientists also have been amazed by this process. So much so that since the 1950s, engineers have been trying to replicate the flight of these seeds. Maple seeds, a […]

By Sam Nichols | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Internal Adaptation for the Tree Lizard

October 10, 2011 at 1:09 pm

So far in this class we have talked about many external adaptations in animals for flight. However the Neon Blue-Tailed Tree Lizard shows that animals can adapt internally as well to help them take to the skies. The Holaspis guentheri, or the Neon Blue-Tailed Tree Lizard, hails from a large area in Africa, where its […]

By Nathan Thompson | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

The fastest animal on Earth “The Peregrine Falcon”

October 7, 2011 at 1:40 am

Though the peregrine falcon is described as the fastest animal on Earth, it is not the fastest when in its level flight which is only in the range 40 to 55 mph but in fact, when in its hunting dive. Experiments done have demonstrated that the diving speed of the peregrine falcon exceeds 200 mph. […]

By Jean-Marc Tsang | Tagged , , | Comments (9)

Top Gun

October 6, 2011 at 2:50 pm

A problem with aircraft, primarily jet fighters, is that when executing a fast turn, the wings are put under extreme forces. This force, known as G’s is the aircraft’s acceleration compared to its free-fall. To elaborate 1 G is a person sitting down at sea lavel. An F-16 fighter can pull about 9 G’s at […]

By Matthew Farmer | Comments (3)