Question

In what ways is a plane similar to a bird?​

Answer 1

Answer:

1. People have looked up at birds for years and they have inspired us to fly. Airplanes have wings, just like birds. They also have a light skeleton (or framework) to decrease their weight, and they have a streamlined shape to decrease drag. The big difference is that airplanes do not flap their wings.

Answer 2

1. The take off (lift)

Birds take off in various ways. Some birds run just before flight to create an air lift (upward force), some flap their wings and some just jump off and glide. The flapping of their wings to swipe the air below as well as their speed during the run results the pressure below the birds to be higher and that of above to be lower. So, this creates an air lift which pushes the birds upward.

The similar kind of thing occur in an aircraft. In helicopter, the rotor pushes the air downwards as do wings in a bird. Also in airplane, the speed in the runway creates the pressure difference, which is responsible for creating the lift enough for flight. The structural design is actually more important for the lift.

2. The shape and structure

The structure of birds and aircraft is quite similar. Both have streamlined body structure which is necessary for flight. The body is made up of light materials in case of aircraft whereas birds have light bones and feathers in their body.

The wings make birds and aircraft even closer, as both of them use wings for flight as well as the shape of it. Also, the front part of aircraft is pointed as the front part of bird (beak). This is responsible for creating them more aerodynamic and helps in forward movement by sweeping the air.

3. Flight techniques – Hovering and gliding

There are various flight techniques that aircraft practice as the birds do. Both birds and winged aircraft can glide in the air for a longer distance. They can also use gliding as an energy efficient mode. During gliding almost no energy is spent by birds whereas the aircraft also use minimum of energy.

Also the helicopters hover as different birds do. The diving technique used by birds is also used in airshows. Most of the flight techniques are adopted from the observation of birds as human strive to outwit birds in flying.

4. Movement in the air

Aircraft use different movable parts in their wings and tails to maneuver or simply change direction so as to direct the movement like rudder, elevator and ailerons. They control horizontal and vertical movement as well as tilting. Likewise the tail of birds are responsible for the maneuvers and the entire movement since both parts of birds are completely movable unlike aircraft.

5. Landing

Aircraft and birds both gain or lose elevation with the variation of the drag force that acts downward and the lift force that acts upwards. The parts that control the movement are the things that enable them to create such variation finally enabling them to land as well as take off.

Both of them take control during the landing process by the use of their motion controllers. Birds usually generate a resistance by flapping their wings while the aircraft move the ailerons, elevator and apply brakes.

Apart from these similarities, both are different in terms of many other things. Even we can sort many differences out in those above similarities when we scrutinize these two things more. Aircraft have evolved much from where they have started. So, the early bird inspired aircraft were more bird like than these modern evolved aircraft that we observe today.