Beeline
Question: My girlfriend tells me it is impossible to explain how the
bumblebee flies. Apparently it defies the laws of physics. Is this true?
Answer: The infamous case of the flightless bumblebee is a classic example of
carelessness with approximations.
It stems from someone trying to apply a basic equation from aeronautics to
the flight of the bee. The equation relates the thrust required for an object to
fly to its mass and the surface area of its wings. In the case of the bee, this
gives an extremely high value—a rate of work impossible for such a small…
