How Insects Fly

Science World, Feb 26, 2001 by Sharon Guynup

* A bumblebee can travel 2,000 miles on the energy found in one teaspoon of nectar--but each flower supplies only enough to keep the bee going for one minute. So they must feed all day, stopping at over 100 flowers on each trip from the nest.

* Some insects save energy by gliding. Most gliders live in the rainforest, where there is little wind to buffet them about. Their wings are long and thin like a glider aircraft.

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National Science Education Standards

Grades 5-8: motions and forces * transfer of energy * diversity and adaptation of organisms * structure and function in living systems

Grades 9-12: motions and forces * interactions of energy and matter * biological evolution * matter energy, and organization in living systems

Resources

"The Mysteries of Insect Flight," The New York Times, 9/7/99, p. F5

"The Physics of Insect Flight," Discover, April 2000, p. 27

The Secrets of Animal Flight by Nic Bishop, Scholastic, 1997

Directions: Match the word(s) the left column with the correct phrases on the right.

-- 1. chitin         a. suction that pulls wings skyward

-- 2. lift           b. scientist who studies motions and forces

-- 3. airfoil        c. scientist who studies insects

-- 4. vortex         d. an insect's midsection

-- 5. accelerate     e. a curved surface--like an insect or
                        airplane wing--whose shape helps
                        produce lift

-- 6. physicist      f. tough material that composes an insect's
                        hard outer skin

-- 7. entomologist   g. speed up

-- 8. thorax         h. a whirling spiral of air or water

ANSWERS

1. f 2. a 3. e 4. h 5. g 6. b 7. c 8. d