birding-aus

Flight

To:
Subject: Flight
From: R & J Frankenberg <>
Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2002 14:47:42 +1000
But how much does a Rainbow Lorikeet have to eat to get 10 joules?

Judy

At 01:49 PM 9/09/02 +1000, you wrote:
>On Mon, Sep 09, 2002 at 12:43:40PM +1000, Terry Pacey wrote:
>> Just a short time ago, I was watching Rainbow Lorikeets feeding in a tall
>> Silky Oak (grevillia robusta) behind our place.  Suddenly, one of the birds
>> flapped its wings and took off vertically and with another flap moved to a
>> branch about 4 metres directly above the branch it left.
>>
>> This was accomplished with the two or three flaps of the wing previously
>> mentioned and then continuing straight up with the wings folded.  It was
>> like a rocket launch.
>>
>> What amounts of energy are required for a bird of the size and weight of a
>> Rainbow Lorikeet to glide in a vertical direction?
>
>The basic theory is easy.  A Rainbow Lorikeet weighs about 0.12 kg,
>gravity is 9.8ms^-2 so to raise a lorikeet 4 metres, you need 0.12*9.8*4
>joules.  In other words roughly 4 joules of energy.  This could be
>achieved by 4 watts applied for a second.
>
>This is a minimum energy expenditure.  Due to inefficiencies  such as
>energy lost to air turbulance, the lorikeet may have to expend several
>significantly more energy.  10 joules is a safe order-of-magnitude
>estimate for the amount of energy your Lorikeet expended.
>
>Andrew
>Birding-Aus is on the Web at
>www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
>To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
>"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
>to 
>
>
>


***************************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, and are
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are
addressed. If you are not the original recipient, any use, dissemination,
forwarding, printing, or copying of this email is strictly prohibited.
If you received this email in error, please notify the sender.

This message has been scanned for viruses by the Dragnet CleanMail Service.
***************************************************************************
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU