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how big would a human wings have to be to fly

by Dr. Florida Pfannerstill Published 1 year ago Updated 1 year ago
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As an organism grows, its weight increases at a faster rate than its strength. Thus, an average adult male human would need a wingspan of at least 6.7 meters to fly.Mar 31, 2013

Full Answer

How much does a human weigh?

What muscles do you need to fly?

How many jet engines does Jet Man use?

Can flying squirrels glide downward?

Can you scale a bird's wings to human size?

Do humans fly with wings?

Is human anatomy fit to fly?

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How much does a human weigh?

For an average human being: mass 60 kg, wing pan: 20 m → To fly like bird with muscle power. Do not compare with airplane.

What muscles do you need to fly?

The answer of Dennis Belford is very precise stating that people would need extremely strong chest muscles and lung capacity plus feathery bodies to help them steer through the air and even specific type of feathers for specific type of wings: for long or short wings, with longer wings you don't clap too much like an eagle

How many jet engines does Jet Man use?

N.B. Jet man use 4 small jet engine that are started aboard a small airplane, then he trow himself out and dive to gain speed before self substained flight (with the help of the engine).

Can flying squirrels glide downward?

This is true in nature as well, “flying squirrels” can actually only glide downward.

Can you scale a bird's wings to human size?

A bird’s wing muscles make up a significant portion of a bird’s weight, but scaling that up to human sizes increases the required muscle size exponentially. The energy expended would also be prohibitive after a few flaps of the man-wings as well.

Do humans fly with wings?

I assume the human flight you are interested in involves a takeoff? In that case, the only wings that humans have flown with are those on a few man powered aircraft. Think of them as lightweight gliders with a propeller powered by pedals.

Is human anatomy fit to fly?

Human anatomy is not fit to fly. The ratio weight and power is to high to accomplish self substaine flight.

How long do wings need to be to fly?

If humans developed wings, how long would our wings need to be to fly? The average adult male would need a wingspan of no less than 6.7 meters (~22 feet). The largest flying bird in history, argentavis magnificens, weighed about 200 pounds, and had a wingspan of about 7 meters (~23 feet).

How long is a human's wingspan?

Wingspan is 13 meters. (44+ feet) Obviously, to fly like this as a human, you’ll probably need a tail, and augumented muscles to sustain wings in proper shape while you’re flying. Ideally wings would need to “lock” in proper shape so you could reduce amount of effort required to sustain flying.

How much muscle do birds have?

Birds often have about 1/3 of their total weight in their pectoral muscles. So imagine yourself with a breastbone that sticks out three feet and has 25-30 pounds of muscle attached to each side (50-60 pounds total).

What is an albatross' wingspan?

Consider how wide the wingspan of an albatross is. An albatross is a bird, built for flight and is only a fraction of the size of a human being, yet , if there is no wind, it has to run a fair distance just to be able to take off.

Why do we need to eat more if we have wings?

If humans had wings, they would also need to eat A LOT more, as having wings more than doubles the need for calories to maintain them as well as having a high metabolism for them .

How much weight does a hang glider need?

A good hang glider can develop a wing loading of about 2 lb / ftsq.

What would happen if you put 12 meter wings on your body?

However, attaching 12-meter wings to the human body would cause huge strains on the support systems such as the respiratory and circulatory systems. The heart would probably not be able to pump enough blood and the lungs suck enough air to sustain such an addition...and that's while you're resting.

How long is a human flyer's wingspan?

So, at a first cut, a human flyer which flies at a sprint pace will have about an 80 foot wingspan. Good luck getting through doorways.

What are the two biggest problems with the wing?

The two biggest problems are wing mass and strength and power-to-weight ratio.

How big is a 10 cm spar?

The cross-sectional area of a person is about 1+ feet by 3- feet, or about 1/3 square meter. This is 1/8th the wing area, which is why our being aerodynamic really doesn't enter the picture.

How long should wingspan be?

So to be realistic, skin-covered wings would be better for humans. Also, the wingspan would have to be very long. About 15 feet from wingtip to wingtip for the average-height human adult. How best to connect it the body, well, it would be better if it connected directly to the spine, like all our other limbs.

How to hide bat wings?

As to hiding it on a day-to-day basis, the best way would be if you could draw out a design for your wings so that it can support the human's weight, and yet it can also fold neatly along the back. The batwing design would be a little difficult here because the long 'fingers' make it difficult to fold easily. You can see a picture of man's arm, bird's wing, and bat's wing here. What would be ideal is the skin-covered wing of a bat, but with the bone structure of a bird. Windbreakers with special slits in the back can be used, so that the wings can be hidden while the jackets are worn, yet in an emergency, the wings can snap out of the slits.

What are the biggest issues with birds?

The biggest issues are attaching the wings in a way that would give them the necessary range of motion (between the shoulder blades is way to restricted), and the weight of a human-in some birds the total weight of their feathers is more than their skeleton.

Why is batwing design so difficult?

The batwing design would be a little difficult here because the long 'fingers' make it difficult to fold easily. You can see a picture of man's arm, bird's wing, and bat's wing here. What would be ideal is the skin-covered wing of a bat, but with the bone structure of a bird.

How to fly in a terrestrial environment?

For a human to fly in a terrestrial environment, you'd need to completely reconfigure the body. Replace solid bones with hollow bones (like birds). Deepen the chest to give the wing muscles a proper breast bone anchor. Remove most of the mass of the legs (you'll be flying most places). Add a bunch of muscles in the chest, shoulders, and upper arms.

Where is the connecting area between the wing and the back?

The connecting area between the wing and the back could be from shoulder-height down to maybe mid-back or three-quarter ways down. Any less and the wings would be liable to tearing off when faced with a strong force. Blood circulation would, of course, have to include the wings.

Do human wings have less fat?

Muscle structure, also less dense, and the human must have very little fat or he/she'd be lugging around a lot of extra weight. Heart compressions must come faster to support the beating of the wings (which need to be very strong), and so diets would need to change too.

How big of wings do you need to lift 200 lbs?

ok lets see . . . as to the size of wings to support average human weight . . . well to lift 200 lbs. you'd need a 14 ft. span a 42 in. chord a 24.5% chord camber thickness tapering from 2.205 in. at start to .5 in. at the end and a 5 % angle of attack for maximum lift . . . the only problem is you'd have to hit 23 mph. to get up in the air . . .so find a way to flap em fast enough and your set

How to fly like an eagle?

To fly like and eagle your wing span would have to be about 30 feet. But let me say that there are many ways to "fly" with wings. If you could move forward fast enough, you can get lift with smaller wings. Like and airplane. The wings would have to be slightly curved at the top to create the pressure difference that creates lift. If you can flap your wings fast enough like a bee you can also achieve lift with small strong light wings. You can also glide and catch updrafts... It takes more skill. Most birds know how to do it inherently. The material makes a different. The flapping motion makes a difference as well.

What is a hang glider?

Look at hang-gliders: they are essentially strap-on wings which allow people to gli de. If we had the musculature to flap them, they would probably be able to provide the necessary lift; if we put on quite a small moter, they lift quite well. Which means that the wings on conventionally drawn angels are probably too small if the angels as much as humans.

Can you fly on a hang glider?

Think about a hang glider..people can fly on those for hours in the desert by catching up-drafts. Assuming we could flap our wings, then the wings would be slightly smaller. Hang Gliding may give you an idea of how big our wings would have to be. excerpt from: http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=40915&page=1

Can humans fly with a large wing?

Even if you had a large enough wing area , you still have a problem. Humans don't posess the right type of muscle tissue nor the strength to use a wing, if it were attached in place of an arm. We'd make a glider is all. Proper flight would still be impossible. Edit: Thanks Darkling

How long does it take to graft wings to a human?

If what you’re really after is that angelic aesthetic, you may be in luck. Back in 2002, Dr Joe Rosen of Dartmouth Medical Centre claimed that within 5 years he would be capable of grafting a pair of flesh-and-bone wings to a human being’s body. Rosen said:

Why do birds have air sacs?

Air sacs connected to the lungs — as well as aiding respiration during flight, these air sacs make birds even lighter

Why do birds soar?

Because of a perfect wingspan to wing muscle strength ratio, birds can soar up into the atmosphere while we’re stuck here on the ground. In order to generate enough power to lift our heavy human bodies, we would need a wingspan of at least 6.7 metres and our arm and chest muscles would have to be colossal … making our body, as a result, too heavy to lift. See the conundrum?

Can a human fly with wings?

It is physiologically impossible for a human to fly with wings in the same way that a bird flies. There are a few important ways in which a bird is designed for flight that we humans lack:

Can you fly with legs?

Ok, now we reach the realms of possibility. In theory there is enough strength in our legs to power flight, but only if the wings are light enough and the span is wide enough to hit the golden ratio mentioned above. It can be achieved in an aircraft with a fixed wing and propellers that are powered by leg pedalling — for example the Daedalus, which was created by an MIT research team and flew a distance of 71.5 miles back in 1988. Granted, it was powered by the thunderous thighs of Olympic cyclist Kanellos Kanellopoulos.

Lift

Humans were clearly not meant to fly … we weigh a lot more in proportion to our size than birds, which have hollow bones

Man-Powered Flight

That said, human-powered flight is possible. In 1977, Paul MacCready won the $100,000 Kremer prize for designing the Gossamer Condor, which flew a figure eight, 1 mile-long course. MacCready calculated that a good bicyclist could develop, or generate, one-third horsepower almost indefinitely.

How much does a human weigh?

For an average human being: mass 60 kg, wing pan: 20 m → To fly like bird with muscle power. Do not compare with airplane.

What muscles do you need to fly?

The answer of Dennis Belford is very precise stating that people would need extremely strong chest muscles and lung capacity plus feathery bodies to help them steer through the air and even specific type of feathers for specific type of wings: for long or short wings, with longer wings you don't clap too much like an eagle

How many jet engines does Jet Man use?

N.B. Jet man use 4 small jet engine that are started aboard a small airplane, then he trow himself out and dive to gain speed before self substained flight (with the help of the engine).

Can flying squirrels glide downward?

This is true in nature as well, “flying squirrels” can actually only glide downward.

Can you scale a bird's wings to human size?

A bird’s wing muscles make up a significant portion of a bird’s weight, but scaling that up to human sizes increases the required muscle size exponentially. The energy expended would also be prohibitive after a few flaps of the man-wings as well.

Do humans fly with wings?

I assume the human flight you are interested in involves a takeoff? In that case, the only wings that humans have flown with are those on a few man powered aircraft. Think of them as lightweight gliders with a propeller powered by pedals.

Is human anatomy fit to fly?

Human anatomy is not fit to fly. The ratio weight and power is to high to accomplish self substaine flight.

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1.If humans had wings, what would their wingspan be?

Url:https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/if-humans-had-wings-what-would-their-wingspan-be/

35 hours ago If humans developed wings, how long would our wings need to be to fly? The average adult male would need a wingspan of no less than 6.7 meters (~22 feet). The largest flying bird in history, …

2.How big would human wings have to be for us to be able …

Url:https://www.quora.com/How-big-would-human-wings-have-to-be-for-us-to-be-able-to-fly

36 hours ago  · With a spar diameter of 10 cm, the frontal area of each wing will be 1.2 meters, for a wing cross-sectional area of 2.4 meters. The cross-sectional area of a person is about 1+ …

3.Videos of How Big Would A Human Wings Have To Be To Fly

Url:/videos/search?q=how+big+would+a+human+wings+have+to+be+to+fly&qpvt=how+big+would+a+human+wings+have+to+be+to+fly&FORM=VDRE

32 hours ago but if we were to say an eagle weighs 6.3kg and has a wingspan of 2.3m, a human at the average global weight of 63kg would need a wingspan of 23m (just shy of half a football field) Not quite …

4.If human beings had wings, how large would they actually …

Url:https://www.quora.com/If-human-beings-had-wings-how-large-would-they-actually-be-required-to-be-able-to-support-flight

2 hours ago ok lets see . . . as to the size of wings to support average human weight . . . well to lift 200 lbs. you'd need a 14 ft. span a 42 in. chord a 24.5% chord camber thickness tapering from 2.205 in. …

5.If humans had wings, how big would they have to be?

Url:https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/42764/if-humans-had-wings-how-big-would-they-have-to-be

10 hours ago  · In order to generate enough power to lift our heavy human bodies, we would need a wingspan of at least 6.7 metres and our arm and chest muscles would have to be colossal …

6.flight - What would humans wings need to be like to fly ...

Url:https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/39736/what-would-humans-wings-need-to-be-like-to-fly

20 hours ago That's a weird link... Similar to GOT dragon wings, that means at 2 m width, the wings would each be 12.5 meters in length. That's 40 feet long, each. You could do this with an exoskeleton more …

7.If humans had wings, how big would they need to be in …

Url:https://www.answerbag.com/q_view/68817

30 hours ago  · When you do the calculations, you find that for a person of average size to fly they would need a wingspan of between 6 to 7m. In addition their chest muscles would need to …

8.What Kind of Wings Would a Human Need to Fly? - Medium

Url:https://medium.com/@mariecuriosity/what-kind-of-wings-would-a-human-need-to-fly-69a0b358121d

14 hours ago

9.If humans had wings, how big would they have to be to …

Url:https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceDiscussion/comments/apy0jn/if_humans_had_wings_how_big_would_they_have_to_be/

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10.If Humans Could Fly How Big Would Their Wings Have to …

Url:https://guernseydonkey.com/if-humans-could-fly-how-big-would-their-wings-have-to-be/

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