Birds + No Gravity = ?

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Could it fly?

Yes
28
60%
No
19
40%
 
Total votes: 47

geekbait111
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Post by geekbait111 »

edit (in which I deleted other stuff):
semiquote I read but forgot the cite
birds and airplanes cannot fly without the four forces: lift, thrust, drag, and weight *(which requires gravity)*
Therefore since weight requires gravity (yes the moon does have gravity, just very little) birds would not beable to fly (even if their downward force simulates flying, but I now would consider them the same. It's like emulation on a computer, they are nearly the same but a tiny bit different).
vskid
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Post by vskid »

It just depends on what you consider to be flying. If it is just not going splat on the ground like a person would, then no.
If it is just moving without touching another solid object, I think its possible, if the bird doesn't go crazy without being able to land the same way.
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Sparkfist
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Post by Sparkfist »

As I see it flight is the ablitiy to move forward and change direction without making contact with any solid structure. Like what I said before, in the ISS humans float as we can only travel in straight lines and inbetween point A and B we can't change direction. A bird or bat for that matter can. They use thier wings the change air pressure or direct air flow to change where they go and suspend themselves in the air.

The big difference in the idea of a bird in zero gravity is that the work required to become airborn. Without fighting gravity the bird mearly needs a gentle push and then really all the stirring concepts should still apply though.
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dman762000
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Post by dman762000 »

Bird's flight is a product of aerodynamic forces, hence even if there were no gravity the bird could still propell itself. The problem with bird or bat flight in zero grav is in how does the bird direct itself. Since birds and bats use gravity and magnetics to guide themselves over long distances and to adjust altitude the bird or bat would likley just fly around randomly in circles not knowing where it was or where it was going.
Sparkfist
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Post by Sparkfist »

You don't need a magnetic field to tell you what altitude you are at. You can figure those out on one of two things, eithere the air pressure (drops as you go up in the mountians), or see the ground. And don't be fooled by the old myth that bats are blind they have eyes and can see rather well, they just hind the shadows to avoid their preditors.

Also many of you guys are going on about this as if the idea of space being filled with breathable air was possible. Why not think of it as a bird in a closed containor like a large cage or like was said earlier in the ISS. A bird or bat could move rather freely around something like that as those animals are much smaller then us humans.
vskid wrote:Nerd = likes school, does all their homework, dies if they don't get 100% on every assignment
Geek = likes technology, dies if the power goes out and his UPS dies too

I am a geek.
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