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re: Archaeopteryx running
From: "Williams, Tim"
<TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu>
To: "'John R Hutchinson '" <jrhutch@Stanford.EDU>
Cc: "'dinosaur@usc.edu'" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Subject: RE: that paper of ours
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 12:50:14 -0600
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21)
Firstly, thanks for the replies. I enjoyed reading the paper,
though I
admit that most of the math went over my head.
It took me a long time to work it out, myself. But it is all within
the capability of a junior undergrad in physics or engineering to
understand; no fancy calculus or anything. Could be done on paper;
we just used computers to help with the sensitivity analysis.
Secondly, John Hutchinson
wrote:
> >Very, very interesting stuff. It will be even more
interesting to see >
>this model tested against other, smaller theropods and other
> >dinosaurs. I would be interested in seeing how other young
> >tyrannosaurs and ornithomimosaurs fare in this model.
>
>We model a quite small tyrannosaur (FMNH PR 2211 I think), which
should >be
the same as an ornithomimosaur I'd expect; about twice as good at
>running
as an adult Tyrannosaurus.
I'd be especially interested in using _Archaeopteryx_ as a model,
particularly in light of Burgers' work on running take-offs - with
the
forelimbs/wings used as putative thrust-generators. I wonder
if
_Archaeopteryx_'s hindlimbs were adequate for generating enough
groundspeed
to assist in overcoming the "velocity gap"?
Cheers
Tim
A good question for someone to study in more detail; I've only done a
quick calculation with a simple models of Archaeopteryx before, and got
expected results: pretty good at running -- roughly the same as a
chicken, with a fair margin of error. I am not totally convinced by
the thrust-generator arguments, nor am I certain that Archaeopteryx could
have run exactly fast enough, or how fast that really would be. I
don't think we can presently rule out the possibility for sure, or
confirm it. Run with it, somebody! I believe I can fly, la
dee da.... :)
------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Williams
USDA-ARS Researcher
Agronomy Hall
Iowa State University
Ames IA 50014
Phone: 515 294 9233
Fax: 515 294 3163
===========================================
John R Hutchinson
NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Biomechanical Engineering Division
Stanford University
Durand 209, BME
Stanford, CA 94305-4038
(650) 736-0804 lab
(415) 871-6437 cell
(650) 725-1587 fax
http://tam.cornell.edu/students/garcia/.trex_www/naturepaper.html
===========================================