The Bumblebee Myth

[Kristinn Leifsson]

Hey,

If you want to know everything about anything, including the bumblebee myth
you can look at www.thestraightdope.com   This man knows everything there
is to know!

Kristinn



At 11:58 9.5.2000 -0600, you wrote:
>At 12:44 PM 5/9/2000 -0400, Carol wrote:
>
>> > .. and Patrick, since aeronautical engineers cannot, can you prove that
>> > bumblee bees fly?  :)
>
>That's actually an urban myth in case anyone is interested... one that 
>originated in the 1930s when an aeronautical engineer was out for dinner 
>with a biologist who asked about the flight of the bumblebee. The engineer 
>did some quick and simple calculations on the back of a napkin based on a 
>smooth fixed wing and concluded they couldn't fly. Bee wings, of course, 
>move and flex so the calculations he did don't apply. The story of the 
>engineer and the biologist was oft-repeated though, until it has reached 
>urban myth status.
>
>The moral of this is that simple mathematical models are neither sufficient 
>nor appropriate to describe complex actions like the flight of a bumblebee, 
>or dare I say it, the sound of a piano.  B-})
>
>                         John
>
>John Musselwhite, RPT    -     Calgary, Alberta Canada
>http://www.musselwhite.com  http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary
>email: john@musselwhite.com
>
>
>