How Do Birds Fly?🦅

Morning birdies!

Have you ever looked up into the sky at a bird flapping about and thought…

They make it look so easy, gliding about up there like a feathered ballet dancer.

But i can assure you, it is not easy.

Its actually just a LOT of physics.

Take this bird for example:

First, let's start out by saying, birds weigh almost nothing.

Bird bones are actually super hollow:

So they dont really need a lot of force to keep them in the air.

Speaking of…

Take a look at this guys wing:

You can see that it's big up front and then it tapers off towards the back.

Kinda like an airplane wing.

(This is the secret)

Now, you know how rivers move super slow at the wide parts?

and REALLY fast at narrow parts?

This is because there's the same amount of water in less space so it gets forced through at a quicker rate.

The EXACT same thing happens with bird wings.

The air that flows over the top of the wing gets squeezed and narrowed so it speeds up.

And air at the bottom of the wind slows down.

The fast air that flows over the top of the wing has barely any time to push downwards.

But the slow air under the wing has MUCH more time to push upwards.

And because the air on top is pushing less than the air on the bottom our birdie friend gets pushed… upwards!

And if they need any more uplift, they simply rotate their wings forward, down and up.

AKA flapping!

Which forces more of that air to pass over their wings and hence more uplift!

And finally, once they’re in the air they can steer by using their tails like rudders, adjusting their position to turn, climb, dive and… fly about!

Stay Cute,
Reece, Henry & Dylan 🌈

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