# Bumblebees can fly **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumblebees-can-fly/9381 "2000-03-28T16:30:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![labradorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@labradorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labradorian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumblebees-can-fly/9381/1 "2000-03-28T16:30:00Z")
Tonight on As it Happens, CBC Radio (NPR in some parts of Murrica). Proof that bumblebees can fly. * * * **Dee da dee da dee dee do do / Dee ba ditty doh / Deedle dooby doo ba dee um bee ooby / Be doodle oodle doodle dee doh** [http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/](http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/) ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumblebees-can-fly/9381/2 "2000-03-28T16:32:00Z")
Erm, does anyone need more proof? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumblebees-can-fly/9381/3 "2000-03-28T16:41:00Z")
CBC? NPR? BAH! Cecil told us all about it in[May, 1990](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_045.html). Ten flippin’ years ago. It’s about time they catch up. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumblebees-can-fly/9381/4 "2000-03-28T17:13:00Z")
Don’t confuse proof of a physical reality with a mathematical proof. The only proof needed to know that bumblebees can fly is to watch one do so and be certain that no magic or illusion was involved. What people mean when they say, “ayuh, HAWK! \ any sign-tist’ll tell ya, bumbabee cain’t fly,” is that we can’t explain _how_ a bumblebee flys but that isn’t true either. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumblebees-can-fly/9381/5 "2000-03-29T00:45:00Z")
The way I’d heard it explained is different from the way Adams explained it. (I ain’t sayin he’s wrong, I’m just hopin ta shed more light on this topic.) The way I’d heard it explained was, you can’t explain how a bee flies with the concepts of **laminar flow**. Laminar flow is the relatively familiar way that birds’ and airplanes’ wings generate lift, with a curved upper surface, etc. Bee wings don’t work that way. According to this theory, bee wings work by generating tons of turbulence all around the bee. The **turbulent flow** works in conjunction with the shape of the bee’s body (specifically, litte teeny “pockets” or dimples, I think) to generate lift upwards and forwards. The confusion came because laminar flow was understood earlier, being much simpler than turbulent flow, and being readily adapted to wind tunnels and diagrams, which in the olden days were abortively used to try and explain insect flight. This theory doesn’t agree with Adams’ column, in at least one way. The latter says that bees fly more or less like them newfangled whirlybird thingies. Dudes and eggheads call em “helicopters”. If I understand it correctly, helicopters use laminar flow, kinda like planes but the wings move so the airframe doesn’t have to. This explains why helicopter start to lose lift on one side if they start moving faster than their retreating blade. So I guess my question is, what the heck does turbulent flow have to do with flying, if anything? ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumblebees-can-fly/9381/6 "2000-03-29T02:36:00Z")
pick up a copy of the april 2000 **discover**. * * * _what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox_ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumblebees-can-fly/9381/7 "2000-03-29T03:48:00Z")
I’ve been told helicopters don’t fly. They’re so ugly, the Earth repels them. or Helicopters don’t fly. They beat the air into submission. * * * “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![Stonecutter912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Stonecutter912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonecutter912)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumblebees-can-fly/9381/8 "2000-03-30T05:57:00Z")
The oldtime scientists assumed flat wings, as with other insects. By that standard, they would be unable to fly. But bumblebees create airfoils by shaping the wings properly to create more lift than mere muscle power could ever provide. Thus, they fly. Maybe not too fast, but better than we do…