Why the Wheels Won't Go

The scarcity of rotating systems in nature is a function primarily of the limited utility of such systems in natural environments; constraints intrinsic to biological systems (such as physiological problems of nutrient supply) are of secondary importance. In aquatic environments, rotating systems are advantageous only at low Reynolds numbers; in terrestrial environments, rotating systems are feasible as a form of transportation only on relatively flat, open terrain and become less useful as the size of the rotating element decreases. Prokaryotic flagella are popularly believed to be the only rotating system in nature, but dung beetles and tumbleweeds also use such systems for transportation. Whenever rotating systems are a feasible mode of transportation, organisms have evolved that use these systems.

[1]  Robert Bentley,et al.  A Manual of Botany , 2010, Nature.

[2]  F. W. Lanchester,et al.  The Screw Propeller , 1915 .

[3]  Balthasar Henry Meyer,et al.  History of Transportation in the United States before 1860 , 1917 .

[4]  Çîîëîãèÿ áåñïîçâîíî÷íûõ,et al.  Invertebrate Zoology , 1927, Nature.

[5]  A. R..  The Dispersal of Plants throughout the World , 1931, Nature.

[6]  Hunter Rouse,et al.  Elementary mechanics of fluids , 1946 .

[7]  M. G. Bekker,et al.  Theory of land locomotion , 1956 .

[8]  Clark C. Spence.  God speed the plow : the coming of steam coltivations to great britain , 1960 .

[9]  G. Halffter,et al.  The natural history of dung beetles of the subfamily Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) , 1966 .

[10]  F W Went.  The size of man. , 1968, American scientist.

[11]  Went Fw,et al.  The size of man. , 1968 .

[12]  J O Scherer,et al.  EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION OF LARGE AMPLITUDE OSCILLATION FOIL PROPULSION SYSTEMS , 1968 .

[13]  D Bahn,et al.  Metabolism and pulse rate in physically handicapped when propelling a wheel chair up and incline. , 1969, Scandinavian journal of rehabilitation medicine.

[14]  F. Sala.  Structure and Function of Bacterial Flagella , 1972 .

[15]  M. Simon,et al.  Flagellar rotation and the mechanism of bacterial motility , 1974, Nature.

[16]  E. R. Trueman,et al.  The locomotion of soft-bodied animals , 1975 .

[17]  R. Tenaza.  Pangolins Rolling Away from Predation Risks , 1975 .

[18]  Richard W. Bulliet,et al.  The Camel and the Wheel , 1978 .

[19]  Milton Hildebrand,et al.  How Mammals Run , 1975 .

[20]  Theodore Y Wu,et al.  Introduction to the Scaling of Aquatic Animal Locomotion , 1977 .

[21]  Emory detachable motor drive for the standard wheelchair. , 1977, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

[22]  E. Purcell.  Life at Low Reynolds Number , 2008 .

[23]  G A Wolfe,et al.  Influence of floor surface on the energy cost of wheelchair propulsion. , 1977, Physical therapy.

[24]  Accommodations for the physically handicapped. , 1978, Federal register.

[25]  B. Heinrich,et al.  Endothermy in African Dung Beetles During Flight, Ball Making, and Ball Rolling , 1978 .

[26]  Joseph Katz,et al.  Hydrodynamic propulsion by large amplitude oscillation of an airfoil with chordwise flexibility , 1978, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[27]  B. Heinrich,et al.  The Ecology of the African Dung Beetle , 1979 .

[28]  Joseph Katz,et al.  Large amplitude unsteady motion of a flexible slender propulsor , 1979, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[29]  R. Caldwell.  A unique form of locomotion in a stomatopod—backward somersaulting , 1979, Nature.

[30]  T. N. Stevenson,et al.  Fluid Mechanics , 2021, Nature.

[31]  Mark W. Denny,et al.  THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE PEDAL MUCUS OF THE TERRESTRIAL SLUG, ARIOLIMAX COLUMBIANUS , 1980 .

[32]  R J Full,et al.  Energetics of running cockroaches. , 1981, Science.

[33]  George V. Lauder,et al.  Form and function: structural analysis in evolutionary morphology , 1981, Paleobiology.

[34]  Mark W. Denny.  A Quantitative Model for the Adhesive Locomotion of the Terrestrial Slug, Ariolimax Columbianus , 1981 .

[35]  Dr. Leendert van der Pijl.  Principles of Dispersal in Higher Plants , 1983, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[36]  G. Lauder,et al.  Historical biology and the problem of design. , 1982, Journal of theoretical biology.