Geekspeak by Dr. Graham Tattersall

Author:Dr. Graham Tattersall [Tattersall, Dr. Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062047373
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2007-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

My clock does five ticks per second, and the flies rise about 1 meter in the time of one tick—that’s one-fifth of a second. Now the fly-power can be calculated. So, to put into the formula above we have the values 10 (for g), 0.00005 kg and 1 meter:

Energy = 10 X 0.00005 X 1=0.0005 joules

Power is energy per second, and our fly has taken 0.2 seconds to rise 1 meter, so its power is 0.0005 divided by 0.2. That makes 0.0001 watts—one-tenth of a milliwatt. That’s enough to make an LED glow dimly in the dark. A small battery-powered torch gives out about 1 watt—that’s 10,000 fly-power. Flies aren’t very bright.

A typical car engine running on the flat at 40 mph will be generating around 20,000 watts, or 200 million fly-power. So 200 million flies, attached by silken threads to the front of your car and suitably trained, could pull it along at up to 40 mph. Whether that’s a green alternative depends on the flies.

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