Helio copter5/28/2023 ![]() However, it must still be recognized as a great leap of the imagination. The lightest materials at the time would have been canvas as the covering for the blades and maybe pine wood for the machine’s main body, this would have resulted in a machine weighing close to, if not exceeding, a tone. Birds also have hollow bones, which lowers their weight substantially allowing them to take flight more easily.Īs we have said earlier, this would never have happened due to the low power to weight ratio of the men, not to mention to astronomical weight the machine itself would have had. Birds have very large pectoral muscles (the breast, below image), this is because these are the muscles that power the flapping of the wings. If you want to look at animals that do have a high enough power to weight ratio for the flight, you need to look no further than birds. Unfortunately for Leonardo, engines had not been invented yet (apart from Heron of Alexandria’s steam engine) and humans have nowhere near the power to weight ratio required for them to produce enough energy to lift themselves against the force of gravity. ![]() Leonardo’s helicopter was designed as a human-powered machine. Had Leonardo seen a sketch of Archimedes Screw and designed the helicopter from it? We will most likely never know. This is a screw pump and it was invented in Ancient Greek times by Archimedes of Syracuse, who was himself a Polymath like Leonardo. ![]() The closest thing we need to think about the Leonardo’s helicopter drawing would be the Archimedes Screw.
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