Should bumblebees be able to fly?

I've grown up all my life learning that the bumblebee doesn't work with our current laws of aerodynamics. It's too heavy to fly. However, I've been reading things today which refute that. Here's a relavant quote:

Boeing engineer John McMasters sought out the source of this story. His search took him back to the 1930s and finally to a Swiss professor famous for work in supersonic gas dynamics. McMaster�s account continues, �The aerodynamicist was engaged one evening in light dinner-table conversation with a biologist, who asked in passing for enlightenment about the aerodynamic capabilities of the wings of bees and wasps. Intrigued by the question, the aerodynamicist did some preliminary calculations based on the assumption that the wings were more-or-less smooth, flat plates. The resulting calculations �proved� the bee to be incapable of flight....



�The assumptions were almost wildly wrong, and the aerodynamicist himself later discovered part of his error by examining a bee�s wing under a microscope � but not, alas, before the myth was born in the hands of overeager journalists.�

For the full story, click here.

Has anyone heard about this? I've read it in 2 different sources, but just wanted some more takes on it.

How dare they go against proven mathmatics? Baah! I say we catch all of them and cut their useless wings off! It's not like they are using them or anything!

But my post states that it does go with proven mathmatics now...

When I was in school, the science teachers would "puzzle" us with the whole bees can't fly... helicopters, too, now that I think about it.

It's just funny that it was "proven" at one point that bees could not fly, when they've been doing just that all their lives. Now there is evidence that they can fly? Imagine that.

What's even sadder is our media. According to this article, in 1930, it was WIDLY publicized that bumblebees shouldn't be able to fly, but then when the guy retracted himself after looking at a bee's wings under a microscope, it didn't get any media play. I guess the truth has no place in the media, just the shocking stories...

After years as a Coast Guard brat....I'm astonished to see that C130s fly, hehe... they just don't look like something that could do it, hehe....so no, bees don't surprise me....

Check my sig...lol. I need advertising....

They shouldn't be able to fly, bah..just read my sig lol..

-wD

LOL WebDevil, you're the reason I looked into it! Their wings aren't flat, they have grooves and clefts which trap air, and allow the bodyshape to be carried by those wings. Nobody's told me I can't start fires with my mind, but it seems I still can't...

I think Bees are great. They are like the friendly version of the wasp, also creating a delicious produce. The wasp has no reason to be on the Earth except to sting and irritate people ( and to break down decaying natural waste but I will ignore this for the sake of my argument)

Wasps can be fun, though. If they're buzzing you and bugging you, and you smack them at someone else...Typically, they're dazed for a moment and don't have a chance to think "sting" but then when they come to, they're pyst. And then it's by the person you knocked it at...

lol..well at least I was the reason..

Anyways, about starting fire with your mind, I still haven't been successful either...

(If your serious about it, try meditating )

-wD

Originally posted by earthtone
I think Bees are great. They are like the friendly version of the wasp, also creating a delicious produce. The wasp has no reason to be on the Earth except to sting and irritate people ( and to break down decaying natural waste but I will ignore this for the sake of my argument)

There was a special on Discovery about the giant wasps of Japan. And I mean GIANT. They're one of the leading causes of death over there.

But in their war on Wasps, they are learning all kinds of crazy stuff about thier immune systems and possible applications to pharmacology. Just a thought.

We should really look into Ticks huh? Now they are supposed to be useless. Probably hold the secret to life!

About bees, I've noticed in extreme altitude climbing/hiking they seem to fly only microns above the ground. There are some gorgeous wild flowers up on mountian tops, and bumble bee colonies that seem trapped, and I can't see how they got there in the first place. Little microcosms of closed systems.

I country live in a country which was habitated by giant wasps, I wouldn't leave my boarded up house.

Ticks are mad sick and regeneration. you can yank the head off of one, and it'll grow it's body back. You can try to run em over, and they just crawl away from under the steel carridge wheel. They just never seem to want to quit...

Originally posted by junglejake
Ticks are mad sick and regeneration. you can yank the head off of one, and it'll grow it's body back. You can try to run em over, and they just crawl away from under the steel carridge wheel. They just never seem to want to quit...

They're kind of perfect in a way aren't they? Except the whole dependency on others part. What is unique is that symbyotic relationships in all of nature seem to go beneficial both ways...Except the tick.

[Insert your own jokes: GOP replaces Elephant mascot with Tick. Sorry, had to.]

I dunno. The Tick (note capitalization), though kind of a building wreaker, did do really well at saving The City. And if the GOP were to change their symbol from the elephant to the tick, we could say the tick managed to save the US, too! (you had to, I had to, and thus the cycle continues)

Just found out the military is trying to develop a mechanical fly for use in covert survalance, and they're relying on Bumblebee and Dragon fly wing design and body shape, so I guess science has decieded the bumble bee can fly. How nice of them

ive seen that on discovery channel. they have this thing as small as a palm (not a palm tree ) fitted with a camera.

The thing I saw, I don't know where, I mentioned this after reading WebDevil's signature, and a coworker went on a crusade to prove me wrong. But anyway, the thing I saw was slightly larger than a horse fly. nowhere near as large as a palm. I'll have to check his history if I remember tomorrow to find out where that was.

please dont tell the bees they can flie now theyll start doing all sorts of crazzy stuff lol