Could a bird propel a skateboard by flapping its wings?
That is to say, could they get enough forward thrust to push themselves along, without taking off? Maybe with like a little perch to hang onto...
There's nothing in the laws of physics that precludes it. Skateboards can be extremely light and have ball bearings with extremely little friction. It's not all that unusual for a strong breeze to make a board start rolling all by itself
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Quite right. It's only bees 🐝 that are prohibited from skateboarding by the laws of physics.
(Is this meme still relevant or am I getting old?)
According to all known laws of skateboarding, there is no way a bee should be able to do a kickflip. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body rolling over the ground.
a) thanks! I'll take that as a compliment.
b) we have two full albums of these, and a third on the way.
c) If there is a /c/ for people who do covers I'd love to know : I need to find my people :)
I'm sure an eagle could even pick it up and fly away with it. I've seen eagles pick up mountain goats.
Surely you can see the energy required to pickup and fly with a skateboard is orders of magnitude greater than simply pushing the skateboard?
Yes, and that's not the question I'm asking.
I'm asking whether they could sustain forward thrust in a standing position, and without actually taking off.
Most likely, yes. If anything, a bird may stand in reverse and flap the wings in front of itself.
But I would expect that its maneuver ability would allow it to do so in different ways ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
To fit by size or by mass?
That's likely irrelevant, as rolling friction may be made quite low anyway
I reckon a Pelican would easily be able to get a skateboard rolling. I'm just now sure the best steps to proceed testing it.
I'd try a skateboard at the top of a hill and see about getting a cockatoo to somehow get the board to roll under it's own propulsion so it can sit back and enjoy a ride down a hill. That'd be the way I'd try if I wanted the bird to do it repeatedly.