Want to ride a dragon like Dragon Queen? It's possible!

The first season of "Game of Thrones" spin-off "House of the Dragon" has ended. Although only a small part of the dragon family's love and hatred history has been revealed, the most exciting struggle for the throne in the next season and the civil war "A Dance with the Dragons" that exterminated almost all dragons are about to emerge.

In this drama, apart from the palace fighting scenes, what we like to see most are the dragons : not only are they handsome and have the power to reverse the situation, but they are also loyal and listen to their masters. After all, without the dragons, "Family of the Dragon" would just be a low-profile version of "Legend of Zhen Huan".

"Black Death" Balerion | Wikifandom

But think about it carefully. In Westeros, where the story of Game of Thrones takes place, there is no magic. Dragons are barely considered common creatures. Can a dragon that big and full of tendons really fly? In the spirit of seeking truth and being pragmatic, let's do the math today.

Let me first say the conclusion : friends who want to be dragon riders can give up now. From the perspective of both aerodynamics and biological morphology, this dragon is a bit too fat and it is unlikely to fly.

However, if we could travel back to the Cretaceous period, we would indeed find a similar dragon , but it would probably be very uncomfortable to ride on.

Can fly, but not on Earth

Guy Gratton, an aerospace engineer at Brunel University London, estimated the dragon's size, flying speed and other information based on the pictures of Dragon Mother and the dragon.

Assuming that the Mother of Dragons is 1.6 meters tall and weighs 60 kilograms, and assuming that the density of dragons is basically the same as that of humans, and based on a rough estimate of the ratio of humans to dragons in the show, the dragon's weight is approximately 2,600 kilograms .

However, Dragon Mother's dragons are already mini dragons, which are just bean sprouts compared to the "Black Death"｜wikifandom

How well can Dragon Mother's dragon fly? Gratton calculated the dragon's lift coefficient. The lift coefficient is a dimensionless quantity that expresses the relationship between the lift obtained by a flying object and the density of the surrounding fluid. The larger the lift coefficient, the better the object's flying ability .

The calculation formula of lift coefficient is derived from the standard lift equation. W is the lift required for flight (i.e. the gravity on the dragon), ρ is the atmospheric density, V is the vacuum speed (the speed of the flying object relative to still air), and S is the wingspan area.

Assuming that the environmental conditions (gravity and air density) of Westeros are the same as those on Earth, and through observation, it is found that the wingspan of a dragon is about twice its body length. The two dragon wings are abstracted into two rectangles of 8 meters x 4 meters, and the area of ​​the dragon wing is 64 square meters. Substituting these data and the dragon's flying speed into the standard lift formula, it is calculated that the dragon's lift coefficient is about 36 [1].

This result is a bit outrageous. One study estimated that the lift coefficient of a pigeon gliding is 1.64 [2], and the lift coefficient of an ultralight aircraft with a parafoil is between 2.2 and 2.7. This value is already quite good among aircraft, but it is less than one-tenth of the dragon's .

The long one at the back is the tail (I tried my best) | I drew it myself

To make such a dragon fly without the use of magic, one can only assume that there is something wrong with the air in Westeros .

The lift coefficient is proportional to the density of the air, and Gratton proposed that if the air density in Westeros is about 10 times that of Earth , then the dragon's lift coefficient could drop to 3.6, returning to relative normal.

He believes that the scenes in the film also support this conjecture: "Almost everyone can throw a spear or sword far enough to put the javelin throwers in the Olympics to shame. Given that the gravity in Westeros seems to be similar to that on Earth, this suggests that the lift they get from their thrown weapons is much greater than on Earth, which is consistent with the hypothesis that the air is denser."

For humans, the atmospheric pressure caused by 10 times the air density is roughly equivalent to the environment of a diver 100 meters underwater. You just need to get used to it, but it is hard to say what the composition of such an atmosphere is.

How about trying to help the dragon lose weight?

Flying animals usually evolve to be lighter, so if dragons lose weight, they might be able to get a relatively reasonable lift coefficient. In fact, there is a real animal that is very similar to Dragon Mother's mount, the Quetzalcoatlus .

Artist's conception of Quetzalcoatlus | James Kuether / news.utexas.edu

Quetzalcoatlus is the largest flying creature known in history. It is as tall as a giraffe, with a neck of 1.4 meters long and a wingspan of up to 12 meters. It belongs to the reptile class in taxonomy and is closely related to dragons (if dragons are considered large lizards). It has also evolved a loose and porous skeleton similar to that of modern birds to reduce its weight and make flying more labor-saving.

This skeletal structure also poses a problem for paleontologists. Some people describe digging up Quetzalcoatlus fossils as being like picking a whole potato chip out of a rock.[3]

A Quetzalcoatlus with a wingspan of 10 meters weighed about 70 to 250 kg. The large range of fluctuations is because the weight depends on the individual's nutritional status, whether it is pregnant, and other factors. It is difficult to estimate the weight based on fossils. If the upper limit of the estimate is taken, this value is only one-tenth of the weight of the dragon in Westeros , but it is still more than ten times the weight of the largest flying bird in existence, the Great Bustard.

The Great Bustard is the largest existing bird that can take off. An adult male Great Bustard can reach a height of one meter and a wingspan of up to 2.7 meters. | BirdNote

How can such a big thing fly?

I can't fly anymore. I really can't fly anymore.

In terms of lifestyle, Quetzalcoatlus is more similar to herons or storks among birds, often moving around and foraging near water . There are two previous theories about how it flew: one is the running takeoff theory, and the other is the standing takeoff theory.

The femur and tibia of Quetzalcoatlus are about the same length as a two-meter-tall human, and its stride length is about 75 centimeters when walking normally. Combined with running speed and other parameters, running takeoff is mathematically possible . However, this takeoff method requires an open environment, and in the Cretaceous, the Big Bend region where Quetzalcoatlus lived was dominated by rivers and jungle habitats.

The standing takeoff theory was mainly inspired by vampire bats . When taking off, vampire bats mainly rely on the support of their front limbs, using a push-up-like movement to lift their bodies into the air. The hind limbs can't help much in this process, because the bats' knees are open to the sides, similar to the posture of a person squatting, and cannot provide forward thrust.

Vampire Bat Run｜YouTube@Carl Zimmer

However, a study published in December last year revised the theory of standing takeoff. The research team pointed out that Quetzalcoatlus and bats are very distantly related, and their limb structures are also very different, so it is likely that they could not take off with the same movements.

They believe that Quetzalcoatlus relied mainly on the power of its hind legs to take off, squatting and jumping up to a height of about 2.5 meters, and then flapping its wings to fly .[4] It is not impossible to ride such a dragon, but it would probably be very uncomfortable.

When launching a catapult, should you ride on your head or on your back? | tandfonline.com

Furthermore, there is some controversy about Quetzalcoatlus's ability to fly. Birds usually rely on gliding to fly long distances, and in the past, it was believed that Quetzalcoatlus could fly tens of thousands of kilometers on rising air currents, just like modern birds of prey. However, the latest research suggests that even with such huge wings, Quetzalcoatlus was too heavy and could only fly a limited distance .[5] It is more likely that it spent most of its time on the ground, like birds such as the Great Bustard.

Every bit of energy in nature is precious. Since it is so difficult for Quetzalcoatlus to fly on its own, don't expect it to take humans with it.

References

[1]https://theconversation.com/could-dragons-on-westeros-fly-aeronautical-engineering-and-maths-say-they-could-60584
[2] Aldheeb MA, Asrar W, Sulaeman E, et al. A review on aerodynamics of non-flapping bird wings[J]. Journal of Aerospace Technology and Management, 2016, 8: 7-17. https://www.scielo.br/j/jatm/a/3WrcFMLN96KyHFDJjQpR85M/?lang=en
[3]https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-studies-unveil-details-about-the-largest-flying-creature-to-ever-live-180979193/
[4] Padian K, Cunningham JR, Langston Jr W, et al. Functional morphology of Quetzalcoatlus Lawson 1975 (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchoidea)[J]. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2021, 41(sup1): 218-251. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2020.1780247[5] Goto Y, Yoda K, Weimerskirch H, et al. How did extinct giant birds and pterosaurs fly? A comprehensive modeling approach to evaluate soaring performance[J]. PNAS Nexus, 2022, 1(1): pgac023 https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/1/1/pgac023/6546201.

Author: Maya Blue

Edit: Flip

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