Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Ornithopter

File:Otto is going to fly.jpg
Otto Lilienthal on August 16, 1894 with his kleiner Schlagflügelapparat
An ornithopter is a type of vehicle that flies. Unlike airplanes we use today, ornithopters fly by flapping their wings, just like a bird. Early aircraft designers have observed birds, insects, bats, and others similar to these and seen how they flap their wings and tried to imitate that. They even usually built on the same scale as these flying creatures. There are two types of ornithopters, manned and unmanned. A lot of people have tried to make manned ornithopters but only a hand full have succeeded even to glide without towing. Small bird sized ornithopters you can make even at home.
An RC ornithopter
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10 comments:

  1. Anonymous24 February, 2012 14:28

    Hi Shiny,
    Great topic choice! At home, we had a miniature flying bird like the bottom picture. Though it was revolutionary at the time, the ornithopter didn't work out too well. Is that because our arm muscles just aren't able to move like that? Also, why aren't there full-scale unmanned ornithopters?

    Maya

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  2. Anonymous25 February, 2012 13:03

    Hey Shiny,

    I like your choice of choosing something cool and unique to talk about. It's really interesting how humans create things to imitate other species. When were ornithopters invented? I wonder what kind of problems they had when they first had the idea.

    Satchel

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  3. Anonymous01 March, 2012 18:33

    Hey Shiny,

    I think you picked a very interesting topic. I was wondering who invented the ornithopters?

    Matt

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous13 March, 2012 09:13

      Hi Matt,
      It's really hard to diside who invented the onithopter. When I searched it up, it said that ancient stonecarvers depicted God in a winged chariot or ornithopter at least 3,000 years ago. Ornithopter attempts were made before Leonardo's time, and Leonardo himself never actually built one.He only drew sketches. It's not clear who drew the first ornithoptrer, but it's sure Leonardo was one of the first to draw a sketch of a ornithopter. The first successful flight of a manned ornithopter took place in 1942.


      Shintaro Davis

      Delete
  4. Anonymous10 March, 2012 10:53

    Hey Shiny,

    I like the topic that you chose to study. It is really interesting how they date back long ago, and how they are still made and used today. It is cool how they flap the wings to fly, unlike airplanes right now. Do you know the size of the smallest ornithopter that has been created?

    -Sage Yamamoto

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous13 March, 2012 09:02

      Hey Sage!

      The smallest Ornithopter that I could find was 60mm wingspan one and a 1 gram one. I don't know which one is smaller.

      Shintaro Davis

      Delete
  5. Anonymous12 March, 2012 14:28

    Shintaro,

    I liked how you related bugs into the history of this machine, I never kne that aircrafts kind of evolved around these insects, birds and bats!

    Anna H.

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  6. Anonymous12 March, 2012 14:30

    Shintaro,
    I like the topic of your blog, it was very unique and I have never heard of an ornithopter. Do you know What an ornithopter was made out of?
    -Quinn

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  7. Anonymous13 March, 2012 17:23

    Interesting topic! I enjoyed the article very much. I would like to see an ornithopter in action, because in movies the ornithopterish things always crash. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous15 March, 2012 09:40

    Hey Shiny,
    I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I loved that you chose a topic that I had very little knowledge in, so it was very interesting to hear about these Ornithopters. I liked how you included a video that accurately portrayed how amazing these Ornithopters are in flight. Was there ever Ornithopters that humans would ride on?
    Great Job!
    -Coleman S.

    ReplyDelete

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