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General Science / Is zero an even number, odd number, or neither?

« on: 20/07/2018 12:21:35 »

Michael wants to know:

Is the number zero (0) an even number, an odd number, or neither?

What do you think?

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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: Could a blue whale fly?

« on: 24/05/2018 16:55:15 »

From an aerospace engineering perspective, for a whale to fly, or for anything to fly for that matter, its lift must be greater than it's weight, and its thrust must be greater than it's drag. A blue whale is hydrodynamically and aerodynamically shaped, meaning in the air it would have relatively low drag. This is great for flight! The average weight of a blue whale is 100-150 tons, which sounds like a lot, but the maximum takeoff weight of an A380 is about 617 tons. So if an A380 can fly, so can a blue whale. The question is then, what would be the whale's thrust? One could easily say, with enough rocket fuel, anything can fly. But if you want to strictly stick to physiological methods, this is where flapping comes in. For such a dense and heavy creature to fly, the wings need to have an extremely large plan-form area, must be very strong, lightweight and flexible. So this whale would need nature's equivalent of carbon fibre wings.....