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To restore the insect to its original vertical position, the average upward force during the downward stroke, F av, must be equal to twice the weight of the insect. Note that since the upward force on the insect body is applied only for half the time, the average upward force on the insect is simply its weight. [14]
The smallest flying vertebrates are the bee hummingbird and the bumblebee bat, both of which may weigh less than 2 grams (0.071 oz). They are thought to represent the lower size limit for endotherm flight. [citation needed] The smallest flying invertebrate is a fairyfly wasp species, Kikiki huna, at 0.15 mm (0.0059 in) (150 μm). [23] Fastest.
The extinct pterosaurs, an order of reptiles contemporaneous with the dinosaurs, were also very successful flying animals, [3] and there were apparently some flying dinosaurs (see Flying and gliding animals#Non-avian dinosaurs). Each of these groups' wings evolved independently, with insects the first animal group to evolve flight. [4]
Drag forces acting on a flying animal are composed of parasitic drag on the body fuselage and induced drag on the wings, both acting against the relative direction of flight. Adjusting the angle of attack while wing beat frequency is held constant, birds are able to direct a component of the lift produced by their wings backwards, thus ...
The centrifugal force acts outwards in the radial direction and is proportional to the distance of the body from the axis of the rotating frame. These additional forces are termed inertial forces, fictitious forces, or pseudo forces. By introducing these fictitious forces to a rotating frame of reference, Newton's laws of motion can be applied ...
The majority of insects have two pairs of wings. Flies possess only one set of lift-generating wings and one set of halteres. The order name for flies, "Diptera", literally means "two wings", but there is another order of insect which has evolved flight with only two wings: strepsipterans, or stylops; [2] they are the only other organisms that possess two wings and two halteres. [6]
The downward force of gravity (F g) equals the restraining force of drag (F d) plus the buoyancy. The net force on the object is zero, and the result is that the velocity of the object remains constant. Terminal velocity is the maximum speed attainable by an object as it falls through a fluid (air is the most common example).
Pennycuick [1] divides animal flight into three types: parachuting, gliding and powered. He observes however that these have no sharp boundaries. For example, at one point he sees parachutes as unpowered and as a primitive form of soaring, while soaring itself he sees as being powered by air movement (wind).