| The Simple Science of Flight, Revised and Expanded Edition: From Insects to Jumbo Jets |  | Author: Henk Tennekes
Publisher: The MIT Press
List Price: $21.95
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Rating:  3 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: Rev Exp
Pages: 176
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7 x 0.8
ISBN: 0262513137
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.1323
EAN: 9780262513135
ASIN: 0262513137
Publication Date: October 30, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
From the smallest gnat to the largest aircraft, all things that fly obey the same aerodynamic principles. In The Simple Science of Flight, Henk Tennekes investigates just how machines and creatures fly: what size wings they need, how much energy is required for their journeys, how they cross deserts and oceans, how they take off, climb, and soar. Fascinated by the similarities between nature and technology, Tennekes offers an introduction to flight that teaches by association. Swans and Boeings differ in numerous ways, but they follow the same aerodynamic principles. Biological evolution and its technical counterpart exhibit exciting parallels. What makes some airplanes successful and others misfits? Why does the Boeing 747 endure but the Concorde now seem a fluke? Tennekes explains the science of flight through comparisons, examples, equations, and anecdotes.
The new edition of this popular book has been thoroughly revised and much expanded. Highlights of the new material include a description of the incredible performance of bar-tailed godwits (7,000 miles nonstop from Alaska to New Zealand), an analysis of the convergence of modern jetliners (from both Boeing and Airbus), a discussion of the metabolization of energy featuring Lance Armstrong, a novel treatment of the aerodynamics of drag and trailing vortices, and an emphasis throughout on evolution, in nature and in engineering. Tennekes draws on new evidence on bird migration, new wind-tunnel studies, and data on new airliners. And his analysis of the relative efficiency of planes, trains, and automobiles is newly relevant. (On a cost-per-seat scale, a 747 is more efficient than a passenger car.)
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| Customer Reviews:
 This book explains a lot about birds and airliners. April 3, 2010
John A. Renningjohnre (Auburn, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a very interesting book and I highly recommend it. It explains the science of flight primarily about birds and jet airliners. Don't think that the science of the flight of birds and of jet airliners is related? Yes they are, and this book explains why. Please see the reviews of his earlier book which this is an expansion of. I pretty much agree with those reviews which certainly apply to this expanded book.
There is a certain minimum degree of knowledge about science and mathematics (algebra) that is helpful but not necessary to enjoy this book.
There is perhaps only one negative comment I would make on the book and that is that it could use the help of a good editor. I suspect that the author, a professor of meteorology, probably said - the book is fine, it doesn't need an editor and if people have problems with it, that's their problem not mine. If the book were better edited, it would probably make it more appealing to readers who might be turned off on it after a few pages. My suggestion is - wade through those first few pages and you will be rewarded.
One other comment. His discussion about the units used in the equations is correct but somewhat confusing. He uses the newton as a unit of force, which a causal reader may not be familiar with. The confusion arises from not explaining the common (non-scientific) use of grams, kilograms, etc as units of weight. In science, grams, kilograms etc are units of mass not weight. Mass times gravity (the constant g) is weight (weight is a force, and measured in newtons). This relationship is not clearly explained.
 The subject is complicated February 14, 2010
John Pardey (Sydney, NSW Australia)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
There is detailed knowledge in this book, of necessity that means formulae and definitions of force , power, energy etc but if you want an accessible way of leaning about the nature of birds and aircraft and the physics that make them so different and so similar this is a short and excellent volume to start.
 Too Dry, Too Technical February 1, 2010
MBS (Los Angeles)
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
I think I am as technical and fascinated with the science of things as the average guy, but this book was an instant "put it down and forget it" after a few pages. Unlike Professor Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" and other books that effectively translate scientific complexities into concepts that lay people can understand, this book was just, well, boring.
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