Translating this into miles per hour, we see that the airspeed velocity of a European swallow is This number lines up with the measured velocities of real birds as well, which means we're on the right track for the mathematics.
So, answering the main question here, the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is something like But, what if the swallow was laden by, say, carrying a coconut to Europe? Would it even then be possible for a swallow weighing 20 grams to pick up a coconut and transport it to Europe? Assuming a large coconut, as seen in the video, this is a fairly absurd proposition. There's no way that a bird as small as a swallow could carry a coconut that was more than double its weight.
However, there may be a way that we can make the math work here. So then, the question becomes, can a gram swallow carry a 3. A gram swallow carrying a coconut just one-fifth of its weight seems more probable than a gram swallow carrying a coconut twice its weight. However, a lot would have to line up to make this unlikely scenario happen.
For a European Swallow flying with our estimated wingbeat amplitude of 22 cm, the predicted pattern of cruising flight ranges from a Strouhal number St of 0. Airspeed can also be predicted using a published formula. By inverting this midpoint Strouhal ratio of 0. Taylor et al. With some further study, it became clear that these estimates are accurate, though perhaps coincidental.
An actual study of two European Swallows flying in a low-turbulence wind tunnel in Lund, Sweden, shows that swallows flap their wings much slower than my estimate, at only 7—9 beats per second:. Although a definitive answer would of course require further measurements, published species-wide averages of wing length and body mass, initial Strouhal estimates based on those averages and cross-species comparisons, the Lund wind tunnel study of birds flying at a range of speeds, and revised Strouhal numbers based on that study all lead me to estimate that the average cruising airspeed velocity of an unladen European Swallow is roughly 11 meters per second , or 24 miles an hour.
Estimating the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow. Add a Comment. View More Comments. The latest from KYM. Photo The Chad 8-Year-Old. It's not about the bing bong… It's about the Knicks baby, let's go Knicks get a slam dunk. Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next. We see that you're using an ad-blocker! You must login or signup first! Already a memeber? Login Now! Don't have an account?
Sign up Now! Taylor discovered the same principle can be applied to birds and other animals that can fly. The frequency is the number of times the bird beats its wings a second and the amplitude is the distance the wing travels in one beat.
To get an approximate airspeed, Taylor said to invert the midpoint Strouhal number which is 0. This means that the airspeed about 3 times the product of the frequency and the amplitude.
There is a very detailed blog on style. But, the real question is not about swallows at all. King Arthur in the movie had two coconut shells that he banged together to simulate the sound of a horse galloping. No one seems to know where he got them. So, the real question is how did the coconut get to medieval England? Is it possible that a swallow carried it over?
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