Question

Part a consider a bird that flies at an average speed of 10.7 m/s and releases energy from its body fat reserves at an average rate of 3.70 w (this rate represents the power consumption of the bird). assume that the bird consumes 4.00g of fat to fly over a distance db without stopping for feeding. how far will the bird fly before feeding again?

Answer 1

436 km The conversion factor between kilocalorie/hour and watts is 1.163 (1 kcal/hr = 1.163 watt). So let's convert the energy consumption of the bird from watts to kcal/hr 3.7 w / 1.163 w hr/kcal = 3.18 kcal /hr 1 gram of fat has 9 kcal, so the total number of kcals consumed will be 4 * 9 = 36. So the bird can fly for 36/3.18 = 11.32 hours The distance traveled will be 11.32 h * 3600 s/h * 10.7 m/s / 1000 m/km = 436 km