will it take off?

[Egon]

never seen a duck land on...land). But I have chased a duck on land and he was running before he took off. :D

Tell that to Farmers who have grain in swaths on the ground during duck/geese migration time! You may have to leave wearing one of them long sleeved jackets.

Some species of waterfowl that dine in the water may have to use a runway takeoff system as there leg's are too far back on their bodies to give the proper upward motion and break the surface tension effect of water. Many of these birds are very strong fliers and cover hundreds of miles during the duration of one flight. EG: the Loon species. And soon it will be lakeside relax time and listen to call of the Loon.

Float planes also have this problem! That is why they taxi around on smooth water to create waves prior to takeoff.

As for light and its speed I'm wondering what light is? How does it manage to attain its speed? Isn't visible light just a tiny portion of a very broad spectrum of energy which humans are not capable of detecting with their eyes?

And then for the laws of Physics. Are we sure these are truly etched in stone laws as it is very possible we know not what we know not off!

Recently I was incarcerated for a week. While resting and receiving copious quantities of mind altering drugs I conceived an airplane that only need to descend to earth for physical maintenance. Someday, when in an unstable state of mind, I should share my Dreams!!!!

 

[daTeacha]

A couple of weeks ago there was a PBS segment about the evolution of flight, basically addressing the continuing debate over whether flight capabilities developed in arboreal animals who jumped from tree to tree like "flying" squirrels and lemurs, or from animals who ran fast while flapping winglike forelimbs until airborne. The Chinese discovery of fossils with long flight feathers on 4 limbs fueled the debate about the origins of modern birds.

Anyways, the segment contained several clips of various waterfowl taking off from both land and water, assisted by hind limb propulsion, verifying the comments made here that I was wrong about the use of feet for takeoff speed in waterfowl.

Thought you'd want to know.

Now, suppose you dropped our airplane from a tall building? Would it attain sufficient velocity to fly before it crashed? What is the shortest building that will allow it to fly? Things to ponder, all solvable if the correct information is acquired.

 

[tallyho8]

Now, suppose you dropped our airplane from a tall building? Would it attain sufficient velocity to fly before it crashed? What is the shortest building that will allow it to fly? Things to ponder, all solvable if the correct information is acquired.

What I want to know is "Who's going to volunteer to be the test pilot?"

 

[Iplayfarmer]

A couple of weeks ago there was a PBS segment about the evolution of flight, basically addressing the continuing debate over whether flight capabilities developed in arboreal animals who jumped from tree to tree like "flying" squirrels and lemurs, or from animals who ran fast while flapping winglike forelimbs until airborne. The Chinese discovery of fossils with long flight feathers on 4 limbs fueled the debate about the origins of modern birds.

Anyways, the segment contained several clips of various waterfowl taking off from both land and water, assisted by hind limb propulsion, verifying the comments made here that I was wrong about the use of feet for takeoff speed in waterfowl.

Thought you'd want to know.

Now, suppose you dropped our airplane from a tall building? Would it attain sufficient velocity to fly before it crashed? What is the shortest building that will allow it to fly? Things to ponder, all solvable if the correct information is acquired.

I can drop a paper airplane from 6 feet up and it will fly. Must be that you only need a 6 foot building.

That ought to convince someone out there to be our test pilot.

 

[Egon]

Well, I was gonna ask
"How tall is the building, How heavy is the airplane, what is the glide aspect of the airplane, what is the wing type of the airplane, is it low or high aspect, what is the altitude of the building" It really is a sorta question that may include so many variables that the question is not answerable and if one looks at it long enough the question just becomes a question!

Sorta like the proverbial physiological question which has no answer but may be discussed for hours by those in the phiosopical discussion mode!

Science has no bearing but is used as step to try and justifie discusion!

 

[patrick_g]

never seen a duck land on...land). But I have chased a duck on land and he was running before he took off. :D

Float planes also have this problem! That is why they taxi around on smooth water to create waves prior to takeoff.

As for light and its speed I'm wondering what light is? How does it manage to attain its speed? Isn't visible light just a tiny portion of a very broad spectrum of energy which humans are not capable of detecting with their eyes?

And then for the laws of Physics. Are we sure these are truly etched in stone laws as it is very possible we know not what we know not off!

Recently I was incarcerated for a week. While resting and receiving copious quantities of mind altering drugs I conceived an airplane that only need to descend to earth for physical maintenance. Someday, when in an unstable state of mind, I should share my Dreams!!!!

Egon, The problem with float planes is NOT that their landing gear are mounted too far back like the ducks you mentioned. Surface tension and the vacuum created by trying to lift the fully wetted float out of the water is the problem. Creating waves to make a bit of an irregular surface to allow some air to get under the float and break the vacuum is what is happening.

Light (perceivable by humans) is indeed just a small slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is a an energy transport mechanism that uses a wavelike phenomenon to move energy through space-time. It is neither electric nor magnetic but a particular combination of electric and magnetic where the energy of the wave oscillates back and forth between its perpendicular electric and magnetic vectors. The electric and magnetic vectors are perpendicular to each other and to the direction of propagation. The frequency of the oscillation is inversely proportional to the wave length (distance between successive points of equal phase.) The energy contained is a function of frequency according to the formula e=hu (e is energy, h is Planck's constant after German physicist Max Planck, and the Greek letter "nu" is the frequency.)

There are LAWS of physics and then there are laws of physics. The distinction I am making is that the LAWS of physics do exist and govern all existance whereas the laws are our best guesses to date of what the LAWS are. The laws of physics may seem to change as we gain a more perfect understanding of the universe but the LAWS of physics are another matter.

Aircraft that only land to get repairs:

NASA did something similar to that...
NASA - NASA Dryden Fact Sheet - Pathfinder Solar-Powered Aircraft

Bertrand Piccard is up for similar...
Bertrand Piccard's Solar-Powered Flight Around the World - Popular Mechanics

Solar powered heavier than air flying machines can be built such that they stay aloft indefinitely.

Lighter than air flying machines with solar powered propulsion can also remain aloft indefinitely (more or less)

A tethered station (possibly manned) could be kept aloft at a very high altitude but only over a single geographic location. It is attached to the Earth by a tension member (cable) and is at a distance from earth such that the centrifugal force exceeds the force of gravity and the cable is in tension. This gives you a geostationary "elevator stop" to which an elevator could be sent by hauling itself up and back on the cable which can be done at a sedate rate so as to not exceed the energy supply rate available. This has advantages over a rocket because the elevator can stop along the way with no expenditure of energy.

The current stare of the art in tension members is approaching the level needed to supply the cable.


Egon, No mind altering substances were used in providing the above, just a little recall of things I have read in my journals, magazines, and texts.

Pat

 

[Egon]

Ah yes Pat I know of the others but I needed the mind altering medications for my Ideas. It's just a mater of all the help I can get.

And yes I did know why the float planes act as they do on calm water. Is not Canada the home of the Beaver and the well used name??? prior bush plane.

As for Planck's theory I haven' a clue nor will I ever have. The wave theories are beyond my limited capacity. Water waves I can understand but the others are confusing to me. I always figure they are little packets of something??/ that leave from somewhere and increase and decrease in intensity as they leave or arrive at some other point. My physics is well in tune with my avatar!

Maybe its because I've never stayed at a Holiday Inn and I know the Pembina Hilton doesn't count! [ not related to the other Hilton's of dubious fame chain of hotels]

 

[daTeacha]

To further cloud the issue or muddy the waters as the case may be:

Light can be treated like a wave or like a particle. Whichever way we choose to treat it, so it behaves.

Light comes in "pieces" known as photons, so it can be thought of as a digital phenomenon.

I'm getting a sense of deja-vu' or whatever way you spell it here, so rather than go into the whole thing of time ultimately being found out to be composed of similar "pieces", I'll just suggest that you look back over the numerous bits of this thread to find it, if you have the time.

 

[dqdave1]

Just thought it may be time to resurrect this thread.

 

[patrick_g]

Just thought it may be time to resurrect this thread.

Right on. How could any serious engineering and science debate possibly reach its fullest value to mankind without the mumblings, ramblings, and paranoid delusional comedy of Etono?

Pat