Whale of a 'tail.'



At 17:30 14 May 2007, Ralph Jones wrote:
On Mon, 14 May 2007 16:37:06 GMT, 'bumper'
wrote:


'RichardFreytag' wrote in message
roups.com...
This article: http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/213475
claims that the tuburcles on the leading edge of whale
fins actually
improve efficiency in fluid by lowering stall speed.
I expect someone
here might have a good sense if this has any likelihood
of working.




I'm not so sure, Richard. I remember about a decade
ago there was an
independent double-blind study done on the aerodynamics
of humpback whales.
Best they could achieve was an L/D of about 0/1 when
dropped from 10,000
feet.

But they did achieve a successful calibration of the
Norden
Whalesight.

rj