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Monday, July 21, 2014

How Far Is Migration?

Okay.  Just thinking about things here for a second.

  • Let's take a Blackburnian Warbler.  Cornell says that these guys weigh 0.3 - 0.5 ounces.  We'll use a heavier, pre-migration weight of 0.5 ounces.
  • Then, for fun, let's take one of the most southerly wintering Blackburnians, like maybe these guys who were found at Machu Picchu, Peru.  Then, let's find some breeders.  How about these guys, found along the piney shores of Moosehead Lake in Greenville, The Great State of Maine.
  • Google Maps has a new "measure distance" tool that shows a plausible Machu Picchu-Dominican Republic-Cuba-Florida-Greenville, Maine migration distance as coming in at 4,522 miles.
  • Using the field of study known as "math," I can multiple 4,522 x 0.5 to get a miles-per-ounce distance of 9,044.  OK.
  • The Information Superhighway says that the average human weight across the globe is 137 pounds.  There are 16 ounces in a pound.  So, using "math," I can calculate that that average earthling weighs 2,192 ounces.
  • So, if a human were to travel the same miles-per-ounce distance as a Blackburnian Warbler does during its twice annual migration, we'd have to go 9,044 x 2,192 = 19,824,448 miles.  Twenty MILLION miles.  
  • The moon is 238,000 miles away from us.  Venus is 26 million miles away from Earth.  On a per-ounce basis, a Blackburnian Human's migration would take us within a stone's throw from frigging VENUS.
  • Has anyone ever traveled 20 million miles from Earth, you ask?  Why, in fact, yes.  In the 1950s, and it was a complete unmitigated disaster.  And it was all caught on film.  See for yourself:

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2 comments:

  1. Laurence ButlerJuly 22, 2014 at 6:02:00 PM EDT

    hehehe...I've seen that movie.
    How did they get the monster on the ship in the first place?

    Nice math and science work; did you get a grant?

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  2. SarahAugust 6, 2014 at 12:48:00 PM EDT

    I always love the comparing humans to animals thing. I do have to quibble a little with your "math." You aren't actually multiplying in your first example. Multiplying would have given you 2261 mile-ounces, which would be a unit of work done. You divided instead, giving you a miles-per-ounce of 9,044. If you were actually comparing work done (mile-ounces), an average human would equal that warbler in 1.03 miles. Clearly warblers and other tiny birds are just big slackers.

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