Soaring vs. Flapping

"patrick timony" wrote in message om...

What about clouds. I've heard that some clouds weigh 500,000 pounds.
They are probably held together by surface tension.

You need to spend a little time doing some research rather than guessing
your principles of physics. Clouds are not "held together" at all.

The roiling motion of clouds I bet is related to undulation for propulsion.

Nonsense.

If ailerons are so great then why don't birds have them? For that
matter why don't any animals have wheels? Because wheels try to
pretend friction doesen't exist and end up not being able to account
for their actions:

The above is complete nonsense. Wheels don't "pretend" anything.
And you seem to be completely ignorant of what wing warping is.
Wing warping is not propulsion or lift. It's a control mechanism,
as are ailerons. It's not flapping.

How many times did you go around Mr. Wheel? I
don't know.

"I don't know" is a fairly good description of you knowledge of everything.


But when the trailing edge of the fixed wing warps the net movement is
down and forwards - so there is a tiny bit of propulsion backwards.

We call that drag (adverse yaw). But you can warp the wings on the Wright flyer
and it's not going anywhere. It's not "flapping"

Clouds lift themselves and they don't have any propulsion.

Clouds do not lift themselves.

Ron Natalie wrote:
"patrick timony"...

Clouds lift themselves and they don't have any propulsion.


Clouds do not lift themselves.

Momma sez "clouds are lifted by happy rays of sunshine!" That's what
momma sez.

Hey, flapping HAS been patented. Read it and weep. Wished I'd thought of
it first.

http://www.nawcad.navy.mil/techtrans...number=5884872

"patrick timony" wrote
The roiling motion of clouds I bet is related to undulation for
propulsion.

I'll take that bet

If ailerons are so great then why don't birds have them?

Because nature hasn't invented the piano hinge yet!

Wings and joints spread friction around democratically so
that every particle gets some.

Democratically huh? Just when and where do they vote? And what political
party are they members of?

But when the trailing edge of the fixed wing warps the net movement is
down and forwards - so there is a tiny bit of propulsion backwards.

Adverse yaw and drag... always working against the direction of motion...
won't ever get you where you wanna go.

Soaring is like rolling - it tries to deny friction.

The same way you try to deny the laws of physics and aerodynamics?

Eric

If ailerons are so great then why don't birds have them?

They don't? Look at a hawk's wing in flight. See the long feathers on the
trailing edge of the wings? They function as ailerons.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

Uh, technically, Dan, that's an example of wing-warping, not ailerons.
Bird wings are enormously complex structures. Heck, FEATHERS are
incredibly complicated - look at one under a good lens sometime, or
look up some photomicrographs. Very clever design.

Ailerons are mechanically MUCH simpler. Nature doesn't always choose
simple over efficient.

(B2431) wrote in message ...
If ailerons are so great then why don't birds have them?

They don't? Look at a hawk's wing in flight. See the long feathers on the
trailing edge of the wings? They function as ailerons.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

If ailerons are so great then why don't birds have them?

Heh, how about,"If the wheel is so great then why don't cheetahs have
them?" Or how's this, "If hydraulic pistons are so great then why don't
elephants have them?"



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"Ignorance is mankinds normal state,
alleviated by information and experience."
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