{"id":12630,"title":"How Does a Bumblebee Fly?","description":"How Does a Bumblebee Fly?","content":"

You may have heard the myth, that according to the laws of aviation, there is no way that a bumblebee should be able fly.<\/h2>

This myth goes back to a French entomologist who noticed the haphazard way a bee moved its wings when compared tothat of an aeroplane.<\/p>

To get technical for a bit, a plane flies because of the careful balance between four physical forces: weight, drag, lift and thrust. When you think about the wings of a plane, they obviously are flapping around like a bee's wing, and that is because the wings of a plane are large enough for the lift part of the flying equation to work. This is not true of the bumblebee who has a relatively large body when compared to their small wings. When a regular Boeing 747 plane takes off, it is reaching speeds of around 185mph. Have you ever seen a bee reach that speed to get into the air! No! So bees are doing something different to fly.<\/p>

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230 Beat Per Second<\/h3>

Scientists have discovered that bees beat their wings at an amazing 230 beat per second. Not only that, it was found that bees flap their wings back and forth, not up and down. There are also clever enough to compensate for the additional load of pollen they have to carry too.<\/p>

Mini-hurricanes<\/h3>

Whereas an aeroplane's wings will force down the air to push itself upwards, bees flap their wings in a partial spin pattern. So rather than acting like a propeller, this special angle creates vorticies in the air, much like a spinning mini-hurricane. We all know the eye of the storm is the calmest place to be, and this is because the air pressure is lower at the centre than the air outside and it is this pressure difference that gives a bee its upwards lift. Ingenious!<\/p>

Watch this video from BBC Earth - the flight of the a bumblebee, to see it in action!<\/p>