How are bees able to fly?

Question

From the way they look and the proportions of thier body compared to thier wings, it seems impossible that they would fly. Does anyone know or have any idea how they can?

Answer 1

Analysis revealed sufficient lift was generated by "the unconventional combination of short, choppy wing strokes, a rapid rotation of the wing as it flops over and reverses direction, and a very fast wing-beat frequency".

Answer 2

Unlike most birds bees fly by sheer brute force.  Their wings do have some airfoil characteristics but mostly they stay in flight by Newton's Third law of motion, for each action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  They pound enough air down to keep themelves up.  This means their wings are close to flat when pushing down and rotate to knife edge on the upbeat to avoid pushing air up.

Hummingbirds method of flight is very similar, especially when hovering and backing up and so on.

Answer 3

Ok bees are very heavy and they have relatively small wings so up until a few years ago it was said that it was impossible for bees to fly however this myth has since been debunked.

Picture a canoe the water isnt stiff enough and the paddle not big enoughfor the paddle strokes to translate directly into motion instead the stroke forms a whirlpool or a vortex in the water the direction you paddle determines the direction the vortex spins which determines the direction the canoe goes because the side closest to the canoe pushes against the canoe sort of like tires on a road. this is how bees fly their wings flap so fast that they create a vortex in the air powerful enough to generate lift

Answer 4

The wings arent that small, they almost cover the length of their body and that'll be enougth. plus their wings move at a high speed

Answer 5

It is a combination of short, choppy wing strokes, a rapid rotation of the wing as it flops over and reverses direction, and a very fast wing-beat frequency.

Their wings beat over a short arc of about 90 degrees, but ridiculously fast, at around 230 beats per second.