BEE-L Archives

Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

BEE-L@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Joe Hemmens <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Date:
Tue, 10 Oct 2000 10:51:41 +0100
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (43 lines)
The following is taken from an article in the British Bee Journal,
June 1993.  It was written by Rex Boys,  who worked with Eddie
Woods (a BBC sound engineer) in the 1960's and whose work he
describes in the article.

'... Take for example, the measurement of wing beat frequency.
This had previously been done using a stroboscope which meant
the bee had to be pinned down. It had not been realised that in
flight, the freedom of the bee's body to move up and down altered
the position about which the system pivoted and so changed the
resonant frequency.

Eddie just listened to a bee flying around the room and picked out
the nearest note on the piano. For a worker, this was b adjacent to
middle c, giving a beat of 250 times a second. This is a
measurement that anyone can do though he confirmed it later by
more technical means. The stroboscope result of 180 times a
second is still valid for fanning, though, when the bee anchors itself
firmly to the ground.'

In an article written by Eddie Woods in New Scientist published
circa 1950 he gives the worker bee wing beat frequency as 250
beats per second plus or minus 1.5 percent.

Rex Boys has retired from beekeeping but is now a regular
contributor on the Irish Beekeeping list and would (I think) enjoy
discussing this subject.  He can also be contacted at-

[log in to unmask]

Joe Hemmens

> I have read that the bee sound is roughly equivalent to the key of
B,
> one note below middle C on the piano.  This is what I found when
> perusing the BEE-L archives.  However, I seem to recall a different
> note mentioned in one of Sue Hubbell's books (I think it was a sharp).
>
> Anyone have any other information?
> Thanks/ Curtis Crowell
> Hightstown, NJ
>

ATOM RSS1 RSS2