Bob Shell wrote: > On Aug 22, 2006, at 8:42 AM, Don Williams wrote: > > >> Right. They move up 3 inches and down 3 inches 100 times per second. >> This means they average about 50 feet per second. But, of course, the >> wings stop at the end of each up and down beat and accelerate/ >> decelerate >> to the end of the next, so they'd be travelling somewhat faster >> than 50 >> fps maybe even 100 feet per second at some stage. >> > > If I remember right, the wingtips of hummingbirds make an elongated > figure 8 movement, so they really don't stop moving at all. I'm sure > this figure 8 movement puts less stress on the wings than stopping > and starting would. >
Okay. I didn't remember that. I saw a high speed camera film of this once, but can't remember where. Perhaps it was one of the National Geographic ones? Maybe BBC Bristol? Don > Bob > > -- Dr E D F Williams www.kolumbus.fi/mimosa/ http://personal.inet.fi/cool/don.williams/ 41660 TOIVAKKA – Finland - +358400706616 -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
