쉐도잉 연습: How High Can Birds Fly? - 영상으로 영어 말하기 배우기

In 1973, an airliner struck a bird called a Rupel's Griffin vulture, which on its own isn't that weird.

Planes hit birds pretty regularly during takeoffs and landings.

But this collision happened at a cruising height of over 11,000 meters.

That's way above the height at which most birds fly.

Which makes me wonder, what is the highest a bird can actually fly?

Hi, I'm Cameron and this is MinuteEarth.

Birds don't tend to fly higher than they absolutely need to, for the same reason you You don't sprint when you could walk.

It's difficult and tiring.

So we can't necessarily get the answer to this question through observation.

I mean, I guess we could drop a bunch of birds out of airplanes and see what happens, but our AdSense revenue definitely isn't going to cover that.

Plus, we're not monsters.

So let's use our understanding of aerodynamics, scaling laws, and biology to science our way to an approximate answer.

There are two things that limit how high a bird can fly.

Its ability to stay aloft as the air pressure decreases, and on a much more basic level, its ability to stay alive as the temperature and amount of oxygen decreases.

So first, let's figure out which bird could survive at the highest altitude.

Oxygen supplies birds the energy they need to stay warm, but at higher altitudes there's less oxygen available and the temperature is much colder,

so a bird's ability to survive high up in the air depends on how efficiently they use oxygen

and how well they can retain body heat paper measured the oxygen use of a handful of birds and found that, very generally, their overall oxygen use increases with mass.

We can then adjust according to other traits, like how much energy their flight muscles require and how much insulation their feathers provide.

From all of this, we can calculate the altitude at which each bird should suffer from hypothermia.

Let's call this their popsicle point.

If we then compile a data set of flying birds and plug their data into these equations, we can see a general pattern emerge.

Larger birds can theoretically survive at higher altitudes than smaller birds.

There are exceptions, of course, this is biology after all, but our calculations suggest that there are a bunch of birds that could potentially survive above 10,000 meters.

And the largest bird in our dataset, the wandering albatross, might be able to survive as high as 17,000 meters.

But remember, we also need to figure out if any of these birds could actually stay aloft at such high altitudes.

Because the air is less dense the higher you go, less air is available at higher altitudes to push upward against a bird's wings and create that lift.

A bird's ability to stay aloft high in the air depends on its weight, size of its wings, and the shape and angle of attack of its wings.

That's a factor called the lift coefficient.

Combining all of that tells us how much lift a bird's wings should generate in still air at a given altitude.

Simple enough at first.

But while weights and wingspans and whatnot are easy enough to measure, the wing shapes and angles aren't.

Because a bird's wing shape changes as it flies.

I'll save you the long explanation of my rationale here, and just say that this is about where I go out on a bit of a limb.

The lift coefficient for the birds in our dataset peaks at about 1.5 or so, and that's when they're taking off or about to stall.

In other words, when the bird is trying hardest to generate lift.

And since staying aloft is likely a struggle at a bird's maximum altitude, this is probably a pretty good estimate of the lift coefficient at this point.

From there, we can find the lowest air pressure at which each bird could generate sufficient lift to keep its mass aloft, and then use our friend the barometric equation to convert those

numbers to altitudes to estimate the highest point each bird in our dataset should be able to actually maintain flight.

Let's call this their lift limit.

In general, the smaller birds have the highest lift limits.

The hulking Muteswan would struggle to generate lift at a mere 3,800 meters, while the puny Sandmartin should be able to glide at nearly 19,000 meters.

Of course, air moves and it's not uniformly dense at given altitudes, so there's definitely some wiggle room here, which will be a surprise tool that's going to help us later.

But in any case, a bird with a higher lift limit should be able to fly higher than a bird with a lower one.

Now let's combine our lift limit data with our popsicle point data.

We can see that lots of birds, like the missile thrush, can theoretically fly super high, but would freeze long before they got there.

And then there are a bunch of other birds, like the wandering albatross, that could likely survive at super high altitudes but wouldn't be able to actually maintain flight up there.

That leaves us with a small cluster of birds with relatively high popsicle points and high lift limits.

Mathematically, these should be the highest flying birds, and for the most part, they're geese.

The greylag goose, the bean goose, the Canada goose, and the bar-headed goose should be able to fly as high as 8,000 meters or so,

according to our calculations, and this matches up pretty well with what scientists have actually observed.

Like during its migration over the highest mountain range on the planet, the bar-headed goose can reach altitudes of over 7,000 meters.

Then there's the white stork, which based on its popsicle point and lift limit, is our predicted highest flying bird.

It could potentially fly up to about 10,500 meters.

In reality, it doesn't fly anywhere near that high.

But remember, birds don't necessarily fly as high as they might be physically capable of.

But wait, what about the Rupal's griffin?

A bird we know for a fact can fly higher than 11,000 meters.

Our math suggests that it is lift limited a lot lower than that, about 8200 meters.

But this is where theoretical calculations fall short without some additional real-world knowledge.

See, the RuPaul's Griffin likes to soar on thermals, warm columns of rising air that can help birds exceed their mathematical lift limit,

sometimes even thousands of extra meters up into the air.

Other birds are also known to ride thermals, but none of the other high popsicle point birds ride such supercharged thermals, so the Rupples Griffin is likely the bird capable of the highest flight,

with the right thermal.

It might even reach its very generous popsicle point of 15,000 meters.

Turns out, that bird might have had a lot of climbing left to do.

You might have noticed that this video is chock full of all sorts of calculations

that I basically ripped my hair out trying to make sure I got right.

It would have been great if I had a brilliant tutor sitting next to me guiding my learning.

Wait, there is a brilliant tutor.

If you regularly watch our videos, you're probably aware of the awesome interactive learning platform that is brilliant.

Now, Brilliant's lessons are guided by a super intelligent personal tutor for math and coding.

You can now learn hard subjects with one-on-one feedback whenever you want to fill the gaps and build your confidence.

Click the link below or scan the QR code to get started with Brilliant's tutor for free.

You can upgrade to Premium to unlock all courses,

and MinuteEarth's viewers can save an additional 20% off an annual subscription at Brilliant.org slash MinuteEarth.

Thanks Brilliant!

📺 같은 채널

✨ 추천 영상

38 문장

Why Birds Migrate: A Chat with an Ornithologist

IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

41 문장

Why are airplanes slower than they used to be Alex Gendler

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

158

13 문장

How Old Can You Get?

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

220 문장

Venezuela's "Islands In The Sky", Explained.

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

113

15 문장

Could Humans Evolve Flight?

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

58 문장

Listening part four (THE EXTINCTION OF THE DODO BIRD) @ieltslisteningpro.24

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

246 문장

You Are Alive to Watch the Space Station Fall From the Sky

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

81 문장

Do Penguins Control the Weather?

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

287 문장

Flying the Air Force's $320M Supersonic B-1 Bomber

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

159 문장

Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology and Neuroscience: 2025

IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students

90 문장

이 레슨의 어휘와 말하기 포인트

이 영상에는 섀도잉할 문장 77개와 단어 1297개가 있습니다. 말하는 구간의 길이는 6:44입니다. 화자는 분당 약 193단어로 빠르게 말하므로 연음과 약하게 발음되는 소리가 많습니다. 영어에서 가장 많이 쓰이는 3,000단어에 속하는 단어가 79%뿐이라 어휘가 어려운 편입니다.

이 영상의 핵심 어휘

영상에 나오는 익혀 둘 만한 단어 15개를 발음, 뜻과 함께 정리했습니다.

단어	발음	뜻
meter 명사	/ˈmitəɹ/	계량기
oxygen 명사	/ˈɑksɪd͡ʒən/	산소
goose 명사	/ɡus/	기러기, 거위
griffin 명사	/ˈɡɹɪf.ɪn/	그리핀
calculation 명사	/ˌkælkjuˈleɪʃn̩/	계산
tutor 명사	/ˈtjuːtəː/	튜터
angle 명사	/ˈæŋ.ɡəl/	각, 각도
biology 명사	/baɪˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/	생물학
depend 동사	/dɪˈpɛnd/	의존하다, ...에 달려 있다
mathematics 명사	/mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/	수학
combine 동사	/kəmˈbaɪn/	조합하다, 결합하다
equation 명사	/ɪˈkweɪ.ʒən/	방정식
dense 형용사	/ˈdɛns/	짙다
wander 동사	/ˈwɑndɚ/	돌아다니다, 헤매다
gap 명사	/ɡæp/	간극, 극간

영상에 나오는 구동사

단어	뜻
take off 동사	벗다

주의할 발음

화자는 don't, isn't, they're 같은 축약형과 약화된 형태를 15번 사용합니다. 들리는 대로 짧게 발음하세요.

“th” 소리: mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, mathematical /ˌmæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪ.kəl/, thermal /ˈθɜːməl/, theoretical /ˌθi.əˈɹɛt.ɪ.kəl/, feather /ˈfɛðə/
“sh”와 “zh” 소리: calculation /ˌkælkjuˈleɪʃn̩/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, equation /ɪˈkweɪ.ʒən/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, exception /əkˈsɛpʃən/
긴 단어 — 강세 위치에 주의: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, biology /baɪˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/

이 영상으로 연습하는 방법

먼저 말하지 않고 영상을 끝까지 듣고 모르는 단어를 적어 둡니다.
0.75배속으로 한 문장씩 섀도잉을 시작하고, 익숙해지면 보통 속도로 돌아갑니다.
자신의 목소리를 녹음해 원본과 비교하고, meter, oxygen, goose 같은 단어에 특히 주의합니다.

쉐도잉이란? 영어 실력을 빠르게 키우는 과학적 방법

쉐도잉(Shadowing)은 원래 전문 통역사 훈련을 위해 개발된 언어 학습 기법으로, 다언어 학자인 Dr. Alexander Arguelles에 의해 대중화된 방법입니다. 핵심 원리는 간단하지만 매우 강력합니다: 원어민의 영어를 들으면서 1~2초의 짧은 지연으로 즉시 소리 내어 따라 말하는 것——마치 '그림자(shadow)'처럼 화자를 따라가는 것입니다. 문법 공부나 수동적인 청취와 달리, 쉐도잉은 뇌와 입 근육이 동시에 실시간으로 영어를 처리하고 재현하도록 훈련합니다. 연구에 따르면 이 방법은 발음 정확도, 억양, 리듬, 연음, 청취력, 말하기 유창성을 크게 향상시킵니다. IELTS 스피킹 준비와 자연스러운 영어 소통을 원하는 분들에게 특히 효과적입니다.

섀도잉 방법: 단계별 전체 가이드 읽기 →

쉐도잉 연습: How High Can Birds Fly? - 영상으로 영어 말하기 배우기

Why Do India And China Have So Many People?

Why Haven't We Domesticated Monkeys?

Where Did Earth's Water Come From?

The Heaviest Part of a Forest Is NOT What You Think

Why Don't Blue Whales Eat Fish?

Why We Faint (When Other Animals Don't)

How To Kill A Volcano

Three Specific Ways AI Could Kill Us All

Why is it Hot Underground?

MinuteEarth Explains: Cats vs Dogs

Why Don't Snakes Poison Themselves?

The Best Dragon (According to Science)

Why Do Rivers Curve?

Why Do We Have More Boys Than Girls?

MinuteEarth Explains: Microbes

Why Don't Our Bones Keep Growing Forever?

Could This Thing Really Fly?

There’s Really Only One Way To Die

You've Been Misled About The Water Cycle

What I Learned on Monkey Island

Why Birds Migrate: A Chat with an Ornithologist