A small update to a Straight Dope Classic on Bee Flight

[What_Exit]

Is it aerodynamically impossible for bumblebees to fly?

A small but pertinent portion of
Longstanding Puzzle of Honeybee Flight Solved at Last

@SciAm

New research from Michael Dickinson of the California Institute of Technology and his colleagues finally explains how Apis mellifera flies. Unlike other flying insects, honeybees use short wing strokes of less than 90 degrees and a high number of flaps every second to stay aloft. The researchers found that when challenged to fly in difficult conditions, such as a mixture of oxygen and helium that mimicked air density at more than five miles up in the atmosphere, the bees resorted to wider strokes but maintained the same high flapping frequency.

Jim

[What_Exit]

One time bump and then the Bee Flight dies in apathy.

[Fear_Itself]

Now I can die happy.

[rowrrbazzle]

According to http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_09_13_04.html, a French entomologist and his assistant could be the source of this myth. But their calculations seemed to show that insects can’t fly, not just bees.

However, another thread of evidence points to French entomologist Antoine Magnan. In 1934, Magnan included the following passage in the introduction to his book Le Vol des Insectes:

“Tou d’abord poussé par ce qui fait en aviation, j’ai appliqué aux insectes les lois de la résistance de l’air, et je suis arrivé avec M. SAINTE-LAGUE a cette conclusion que leur vol est impossible.”

Magnan’s reference is to a calculation by his assistant André Saint-Lagué, who was apparently an engineer.

What isn’t clear is how this brief note in a scholarly book made its way into popular culture and how it came to be associated specifically with bumblebees.

Babelfish translation of the French: “Tou initially pushed by what makes in aviation, I applied to the insects the laws of the resistance of the air, and I arrived with Mr. SAINTE-LAGUE has this conclusion which them flight is impossible.”

Perhaps someone who actually knows French will step in and help.

[AvaB]

@rowrrbazzle

According to http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_09_13_04.html, a French entomologist and his assistant could be the source of this myth. But their calculations seemed to show that insects can’t fly, not just bees.
Babelfish translation of the French: “Tou initially pushed by what makes in aviation, I applied to the insects the laws of the resistance of the air, and I arrived with Mr. SAINTE-LAGUE has this conclusion which them flight is impossible.”

Perhaps someone who actually knows French will step in and help.

“Tou d’abord poussé par ce qui fait en aviation, j’ai appliqué aux insectes les lois de la résistance de l’air, et je suis arrivé avec M. SAINTE-LAGUE a cette conclusion que leur vol est impossible.”

Essentially, it says; (

(What) Tou initially espoused* regarding what happens in aviation, I have applied to insects and their resistance to air, and I have arrived, with Mr. St.-L. at this conclusion: their flight is impossible.)

Not a word for word translation, and probably more than a bit coonass, but that’s the general gist. Lacking more info on the alleged Tou, best this cajun girl could come up with.

[detop]

“Tou d’abord poussé par ce qui fait en aviation, j’ai appliqué aux insectes les lois de la résistance de l’air, et je suis arrivé avec M. SAINTE-LAGUE a cette conclusion que leur vol est impossible.”

Let me try my hand (I think the sentence was badly copied). I would say that Tou is Tout mispelled.

“Initially induced by what is done in aviation, I applied the laws of air resistance to insects and I came, with Mr S-L, to the conclusion that their flight is impossible.”