Brock, Alfred L. wrote:
>
> (snip) Bees fly, the math cannot grasp this at this time.  Chaos theory
> may lead to some mathematical description of bee flight.  Aerodynamics
> cannot describe why bees fly, but can describe how they do it. (snip)
 
 
12/3/97
 
To Richard & Sanner (and interested bee-people),
 
Part of the problem of using classic aerodynamics to describe an insect's
flight is that a bug is so small that the air acts as a very viscous fluid
on its tiny wings and body.  We can think of insects as sort of "swimming"
in the "thick" air the way we would swim in water.
 
This weird characteristic of air on tiny creatures is also the reason that
anything smaller than a mouse can survive a fall from any height without
serious injury.  For instance, an ant falling off the roof of a house
will very quickly reach its terminal velocity (which is very slow) and
will not accelerate to a high speed, as a human would.  It sort of
"floats" to the ground as if it were wearing a parachute just because it
is tiny!  Cool eh?
 
Gary B. Swift
Mechanical Engineer & Glider Pilot