In our childhood we were fans of fairies or superheros and how they are able to fly. I think as a child everybody sometimes dreamed of just flying around like them. In real life we can’t fly. But there are creatures that are able to fly in real life. We see them every day over our heads. Birds. But why can birds fly that easily and humans can not?
There are obvious differences between the bodies of humans and birds. Birds have wings and humans do not and additionally we are much bigger than they are. But is this the only reason why humans can’t fly? What if humans had wings? Could we just jump in the air and fly to school or work? Sadly the answer is no, because there are way more differences between human and bird bodies. Almost every part of a birds body is designed to be light. There feathers are light, there bones are hollow and filled with air and they even don’t have jaws like humans or other animals have, but a beak. Due to this, their physical requirements are perfect for flying, but the ones of a human aren’t.
So how do birds fly? Maybe humans can learn it from them although they are to heavy? Again the next requirement for flying is physical. The wings of birds are formend in a special way. The front area of their Wing is larger and curved, so the upper surface is longer than the bottom. Due to this, the air has to move faster above the wing, the airpressure is reduced in this part and lift is created. With their wings the birds can glide or they flap them to create more lift and speed. While gliding the bird does not have to do anything, he just has to do a downward motion now and then to gain speed. For flapping his wings, the bird has to use his strong muscles so he gains thrust while starting to flight.
As humans we do not have the requirements that birds have and we are not able to fly by ourselves or to learn it. But anyway we managed it some how to explore the air and to travel fast. We invented the airplane whiches technology copied the birds. The wings of an airplane are inspired by a birds wings and instead of a flapping motion the airplane has propellers or jet engines. So although we can’t just jump and fly somewhere, we are able to fly with the help of an airplane. But who knows what the technology achieves in the future. Maybe we can fly like birds can do in some years.
-by Kira –