What animals inspired the bullet train?

What animals inspired the bullet train?

Japan’s famous bullet train used to make a loud boom when it travelled through tunnels. But, thanks to a spot of bird-watching, an engineer was able to fix the problem after he was inspired by a kingfisher. Listen to 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter to hear more about the kingfisher and the bullet train.

How was the Shinkansen bullet train inspired by nature?

Innovation Details The engineers looked to nature to re-design the bullet train. They noticed how kingfisher birds are able to slice through the air and dive into the water to catch prey while barely making a splash. They then re-designed the front end of the train to mimic the shape of the kingfisher’s beak.

How does the Japanese bullet train use biomimicry?

Ideas from nature help solve human problems. Japanese researchers successfully reduced noise by modeling the front of a bullet train after a kingfisher’s head. In many ways, biomimicry enables science to imitate natural designs to develop better technologies for human use.

Is the bullet train biomimicry?

Biomimicry is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. Engineers use biomimetics all the time to solve today’s problems, one example being the Shinkansen bullet train.

What inventions were inspired by animals?

5 Animal-Inspired Inventions

• Sharks. In the US Navy, ships and submarines experience fouling (the accumulation of unwanted material on solid surfaces, in this case algae and barnacles), which reduces efficiency.
• Termites.
• Kingfisher.
• Humpback Whales.
• Burdock Plant.

What are some examples of biomimicry?

Here are a few more examples of biomimicry:

• Down feather insulation. Heavy winter coats are stuffed with down or other feathers so that we can stay warm without flying south for the winter.
• Termite mound cooling.
• Humpback whale wind turbines.
• Beetle water collection.
• Spider web glass.

Why is the Shinkansen shaped like that?

The Shinkansen bullet trains in Japan were conceived in the early 1900s as a means of high-speed travel. Tests showed that objects shaped like the kingfisher’s beak created less pressure waves, and this was therefore the perfect design for the Shinkansen trains.

Is the bullet train silent?

High-speed trains are generally quieter than conventional trains. Because high-speed trains are electrically powered, there’s no noisy diesel engine, so a high- speed train has to travel at about 150 mph before it makes as much sound as a commuter train at 79 mph.

What Animals use biomimicry?

Keep on reading below to learn 5 real-world examples of biomimicry in action.

• Sharks. In the US Navy, ships and submarines experience fouling (the accumulation of unwanted material on solid surfaces, in this case algae and barnacles), which reduces efficiency.
• Termites.
• Kingfisher.
• Humpback Whales.
• Burdock Plant.

What is the story behind the Shinkansen bullet train?

Shinkansen Bullet Train. In 1990s, Eiji Nakatsu, a bird-watching engineer at the Japanese rail company JR-West took inspiration from the kingfisher, a fish-eating fowl that creates barely a ripple when it darts into water when it search of a meal. The train’s redesigned nose — a 50-foot-long steel kingfisher beak.

What is the Shinkansen train?

The Shinkansen Electro Multiple Unit (EMU) train is part of a Japanese railway system that transports 40% of all railway passengers of the world — that’s about 64 million people every day. The design of the train started in 1989 with a target date of 1994.

How does Japan’s Bullet Train affect the environment?

Railway travel also produces the lowest amount of greenhouse gases per passenger compared to travel by automobile, airplane, or bus. On March 30, 2019, the BBC created a minute-and-a-half video that succinctly tells the story of the unexpected inspiration behind Japan’s bullet train and how its nose was reshaped after the beak of the Kingfisher:

How fast does a bullet train travel in Japan?

The bullet train t ravels throughout Japan at speeds of 150–200mph to support millions of passengers yearly. However, its first design didn’t consider how the train’s high speed would cause atmospheric pressure waves to build up in front of the train as it passes through tunnels.