Geese taking flight (at 300 frames per second)
June 9, 2008 | Edward Tufte
4 Comment(s)
My favorite parts are the 3D foot-splash prints left behind as the geese lift-off and the details of the wings.
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Topics: Art, E.T., Science
Early in flight they contract their whole bodies during the downbeat, drawing their center of gravity forward, toward their wings, and the upbeat is so exaggerated it’s something different: they slip their wings forward through the air edgewise till the tips are in front of their beaks. They are using more energy pulling themselves forward than keeping themselves up. It’s a breaststroke.
On lift off are the geese pumping with their legs and feet for acceleration–like a person on a swing?.
On takeoff when close to the water, the downward stroke is carried through so that the wingtips almost come together but with the extreme ends flared out. It gives the appearance of pushing the air mass being displaced by the wings down against the water to take advantage of the ground effect at very low altitude. As the goose gains altitude, this effect would be diminished, and so it can be seen that the downward motion of the wings is much reduced once some altitude has been achieved.