Question: if we had wings could we fly?

Renata Medeiros answered on 16 Jun 2013:

Possibly not! Although an expert in physics or aeronautics would be able to explain this better, the knowledge I have suggests to me that we are far too big and heavy to be able to fly. We would definitely need massive wings and that itself would make take off very difficult but the biggest problem is that our muscles would not be able to support those massive wings. In other words we are not strong enough to support the massive wings that would be necessary to support our massive body in flight. Not to mention that massive wings would also increase our weight even more and for our new weight we would then need even bigger wings, which is mind blowing! The biggest flying birds (condors and albatrosses) weight around 10-15kg. They already have quite impressive wings (albatrosses’ wings can be 3m long) but they also have hollow bones, making them lighter (if we were their size we would weight considerably more), very strong pectoral (breast) muscles and a good shape for flying, which we lack. The only mammals that can truly fly are bats and, for all the reasons above, they tend to be small animals. Don’t be too disappointed though, we certainly have other qualities! And you can always try doing gliding, you get an idea of how it feels to fly without having to carry the wings home with you!