Could somebody explain the Thanksgiving / turkey drop episode?
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pt100 — 11 years ago(March 03, 2015 12:36 AM)
Frozen turkeys would have plummeted at about the same rate as live ones. Just because the body's water is frozen doesn't make them weigh less.
But the whole point is that they were live, not frozen. I still remember the line after all these years: "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
It is better to be kind than to be clever or good looking. Derek -
kmorrison1 — 11 years ago(March 09, 2015 10:59 AM)
It doesnt matter if they weighed less or not. The only thing that affects how fast 2 objects of differing mass rate of acceleration while falling is wind resistance. The rate at which things fall on the earth is 9.8 m/s/s.
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pt100 — 11 years ago(March 09, 2015 03:43 PM)
The rate at which things fall on the earth is 9.8 m/s/s.
Yes, and that rate varies according to wind resistance. Since live turkeys don't fly, their stubby wings probably wouldn't offer much more wind resistance vs. a frozen turkey.
It is better to be kind than to be clever or good looking. Derek -
baran_erik — 10 years ago(August 22, 2015 09:34 PM)
No, they wouldn't. A frozen turkey lacks feathers, not to mention is dead. A live turkey would flap its wings, even if they wouldn't allow them to fly, and that, as well as the feathers, would slow the rate of descent.
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justanicknamed — 10 years ago(August 26, 2015 08:51 AM)
But not nearly enough to prevent them from hitting the ground hard. I'm sure they'd be flapping for their lives, but even wild turkeys aren't meant for flying for great distances or speeds.
Then, when you consider these turkeys were bread to be heavier - 20# or so - without breeding for stronger wings, they'd still go splat. -
justanicknamed — 10 years ago(September 08, 2015 06:24 AM)
Yes, and my point was that domesticated turkeys, bread to have larger breasts and limited flight abilities would have still fallen from that distance and gone splat.
I never said it was the same speed as frozen turkeys. I simply pointed out that live, thanksgiving turkeys dropped from a helicopter on to pavement would go splat. -
bgva — 12 years ago(October 15, 2013 06:53 PM)
So they probably would simply plummet to the ground.
That's exactly what they didaccording to Les' commentary "They're plopping to the ground like wet cement!" One also went through the windshield of a parked car
Oh stewardessI speak jive. -
almostfm-1 — 11 years ago(January 18, 2015 03:36 AM)
I remember hearing a report on a local station about this actually happening, a year or so before the episode aired.
My understanding is that they checked with an ornithologist who told them that turkeys couldn't fly well, but they could fly a little. The problem was that he was talking about wild turkeys, and the station that did it used domesticated oneswhich fly about as well as bowling balls.