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Re: More on Argentavis
At 05:37 2007-07-04, jrc wrote:
Note that many insects, dragonflies for instance do have rather
effective aerofoils. The veins are oriented to force the airfoil
shape under load.
It is a common misconception that a wing has to have "airfoil shape"
to work. Many aircraft have symmetric wings profiles which work
perfectly well provided the wing has a positive angle of attack.
Remember that a wing works by deflecting the airstream downwards. Any
shape that does this will work as a wing provided the speed is high
enough. Of course some shapes are better than others in specific
cases (gnats, dragonflies, teratorns, pterosaurs, 747's, XB-70's,
space shuttles etc).