• Question: how do birds fly

    Asked by Archie to Alex, Amanda, Marco, Olivia, Sha on 15 Mar 2017. This question was also asked by Blobzöe, 269radh43, gammon.
    • Photo: Alex Evans

      Alex Evans answered on 15 Mar 2017:

      I love answering this question!

      In order to fly, you need to generate lift, which is what keeps you in the air. Birds do this by using their wings (which are aerofoils, just like on a plane) to slice through the air.

      The shape of the bird’s wing makes the air travelling over the top of the wing go faster than the air under the wing, which creates a region of low pressure above the wing. This low pressure causes the wing to be pulled upwards into the air.

      When a bird flaps its wings and pushes air backwards and downwards, according to Newton’s third law, there is also an equal and opposite force reaction – which means the bird is pushed forwards and upwards!

      Bird flight aerodynamics is really interesting, and we’re still learning lots about it!

Comments