From the course: Universal Principles of Design

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Scaling fallacy

Scaling fallacy

From the course: Universal Principles of Design

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Scaling fallacy

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- [Jill] Hi, I'm Jill Butler, and this is the Universal Principles of Design. In this movie, the scaling fallacy or a crash course in changing scale. Let's begin with a demonstration. - Here I am with a new device called the arm saucer. This device I expect to attain flight in the air through a system of leverage advantage plus the man's physical power, I believe it's possible to fly as a bird. And here I am, you can look this device over. It appears heavy. (metal rattling) It's light. (crashing) - [Jill] This aspiring aviator is one of many since at least Leonardo Da Vinci who longed to fly like a bird and then tried to, literally. That is they all assumed they had to flap to fly, which we know today is nearly impossible without some kind of mechanical assist. In fact, we now know that different strategies for flight are necessary at different spacial scales. At very small scales, like 10 to the negative four meters, wings are too small to effectively displace air molecules, and the…

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