Why is it so difficult for us to just replicate a bird instead of the kind of fixed wing aircraft we have?
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We could, but we don’t want to.
Birds are made of soft and flexible materials. We build out of stiff metal. We could engineer complex mechanisms that replicate bird wings, but it would require a lot of parts.
The first rule of engineering is “The best part is no part.” Each little part needs to be designed and built to fulfill it’s function. The more parts you have the more effort needs to be put into making sure they all work together correctly. If we can achieve the same function with fewer parts, that is what we do, it’s much easier. Also when making the parts sometimes they are bigger or smaller than they should be. If you have one long metal stick that is a millimeter shorter than it should be, then that might be fine. If you have hundreds of tiny metal parts, each of which are slightly the wrong size those small errors add up. Fewer parts means less errors.
The next reason is movement. It is fairly easy for us to calculate a static part. It does not move, in some places there are forces pushing or pulling it, but those also remain mostly the same. If the part was moving in a complex mechanism, those forces would change all the time. Making it much more difficult to calculate if the part will do the job. Also the constantly changing pushing and pulling will make the material fail more quickly. Like a paper clip that you bend over and over, eventually it will break apart. That is material fatigue. It requires replacement more often, needs to be inspected more often, because we really don’t want airplanes to fail in the air. Inspections and repairs cost time and money while the airplane is not earning money by moving passengers or cargo. Fewer moving parts is cheaper and more reliable.
And of course comfort. Flappy wings would also mean the cabin goes up and down with each flap of the wings. While many people do enjoy roller coasters, an 8h flight of being constantly thrown up and down does not seem like an enjoyable experience.
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