Flight: True Flight
Clip: Special | 1m 4sVideo has Closed Captions
What is true flight?
What is true flight? Only birds, some insects and bats have what’s called true flight. Other creatures generally just soar. Find out the difference between what true flight and what’s not.
Science Trek is a local public television program presented by IdahoPTV
Major Funding by the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation and the Idaho National Laboratory. Additional Funding by the Friends of Idaho Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Flight: True Flight
Clip: Special | 1m 4sVideo has Closed Captions
What is true flight? Only birds, some insects and bats have what’s called true flight. Other creatures generally just soar. Find out the difference between what true flight and what’s not.
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Science Trek
Science Trek is a place where parents, kids, and educators can watch short, educational videos on a variety of science topics. Every Monday Science Trek releases a new video that introduces children to math, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career potentials in a fun, informative way.[MUSIC] JOAN CARTAN-HANSEN, HOST: There are two basic kinds of flight.
Birds, insects and bats have what's called true flight.
True flight happens because these creatures have wings that allows them to push on air and that keeps them airborne.
They also have other adaptations to support flight.
The second form of flight is called gliding.
It isn't considered true flying because gliding happens without flapping wings.
Objects that glide have enough surface area to catch rising air currents and slowly fall downward.
For example, flying squirrels have membranes between their feet and hands that allows them to glide, not fly, through the air.
Humans have a couple of ways to glide.
Gliders are towed into the air by planes and then released to glide down.
And paragliders run off a high point to soar around.
These human-made gliders catch those same rising air currents.
Birds too, especially birds of prey, also use these rising air currents to soar around to hunt for dinner.
For more information about flight, check out the Science Trek website.
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Science Trek is a local public television program presented by IdahoPTV
Major Funding by the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation and the Idaho National Laboratory. Additional Funding by the Friends of Idaho Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.