I hear that its is scientifically impossible for a bee to fly. is this true?

Question

Obviously they do fly but do we really not know how?

Answer 1

You have that slightly wrong.

Aerodynamically, a bee should not be able to fly.  Of course a bee does not rely on aerodynamics, but lift and tilt, like a helicopter.

Answer 2

I've heard the same thing! I actually forgot about that until your question though.

Pretty cool though!

Answer 3

No. It's an 'urban myth'.

Conduct a scientific experiment: go to a bee hive and check. If you see any bees flying then Q.E.D scientifically it must be possible for them to fly - unless of course you think that bees are magic beings from another dimension, stealing the world's supply of nectar as part of a devilishly complex plot to take over the galaxy and turn it into a giant hexagonal grid that will form the matrix to enable them to....

Seriously, bees fly and the science and aerodynamics involved are quite straightforward. The 'myth'  came to be when a wicked professor somewhere or other 'demonstrated' that they can't fly, by putting some very convincing equations on a blackboard. But he cheated and slipped in a function multiplying everything by 'zero'. The result was mathematical garbage but a myth was born.

Answer 4

Well, possibily because people don't understand how a bee wing works.

It works just like a bird's wing. It flaps and in the process, pushes air backwards.

However, in the case of the bird, once it starts flying, they usually glide around or find some kind of thermal so they don't need to flap as often.

As for the bee, they can't glide with their small wings, so they flap, and flap, and flap. Remenber, each time they flap is when they push a tiny amount of air downwards. Note that they should curve their wings, so when they flap their little wings, it concentrates the air and provides more thrust.

Because of Newton's third law of motion, as they push air downwards, they go upwards.

The confusion probably arises is that a bee wing doesn't create lift in the same manner as an airplane does. An airplane soars quickly through the air and the air provides lift. A bee simply pushes air downwards, sort of like a helicopter.

Answer 5

An aircraft engineer once determined that the aerodynamics of a bee were flawed. He actually wrote a paper on his finding. His conclusion was that a bee could not fly because it was too heavy for the size of the wings and, therefore, would never get off the ground.

Answer 6

im not sure...but knowing modern science we should know!!

Answer 7

Tommy, you are a complete idiot and you only ask questions for the sake of asking questions. Havn't you got more important things to worry about in your life at the moment than whether bee's can fly? How is this relevent to the topic of aircraft anyway?

Answer 8

No, that old myth mis-states the issue.

The equations governing aerodynamics describe the behavior of air, and interactions with bodies like airplanes or bees.

One of the things that govern this is called the 'Reynolds Number (Re).'  It is the ratio of inertial to viscous forces.

High Re means that viscosity (resistance to flow, like syrup), is low relative to inertial effects.  This is true for large bodies and/or high speeds.

Low Re means viscosity is dominant.  Small and/or slow flying things are at low Re.

So, the truth is that (of course) the aerodynamic properties determined for airplanes don't describe bees well.  No surprise!  However, over the last decades (esp. as interest in tiny drones has grown), aerodynamicists have learned how low Re flight works and can explain the flight dynamics of the bee (and the fly, and the mosquito...)

Answer 9

Of course we know. I don't know but WE know.

Answer 10

Yes, that's true...  According to the rules of aerodynamics, the bumble bee is not capable of flight...  Of course, the thing is that no one has ever explained this to the bumble bee, so he just goes out and does it anyway!

Answer 11

That was a correct statement when I was young.  Humming Birds and Bee's defied Aerodynamics and should not be able to fly.  How ever that was before the days of high-speed photography.  Now it's know their wings twist, not flap.  Not only is it possible in theory but scientists have replicated it in mechanical models.