Another factor that affects lift is the speed. We’re talking about relative speed here; it doesn’t matter if it’s the air moving or the plane, as long as they are moving in relation to each other. If the air is moving faster, the pressure difference will be greater, and there will be more lift. This is accomplished in airplanes by the thrust from the engine.But how do birds get thrust if they don’t have engines? They accomplish the same thing by flapping their wings. This forces the air to move over their wings faster, accomplishing the same thing as the engine of a plane does. In fact, the first attempts at creating flying machines involved flapping wings, to try to copy birds! This didn’t work, at the time. It wasn’t until people looked at the goal we were trying to accomplish (air moving faster over the wing) rather than just copying the form, and got creative with ideas, that we were able to invent the airplane.
Thrust
Explain how birds get thrust.
Birds get thrust by flapping their wings and a unique rotation of their wings.
