Journal of Physics Special Topics

P1_2 Owl Post

A. R. Fogg, A. L. Bentley, L. J. Holdsworth, E. I. Spender
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH.
October 8th, 2015
Abstract
In the Harry Potter films most post is delivered by post owls, of varying size and wing area. In this
paper we will investigate the possibility of owls carrying packages. We calculate the coefficient
of lift of the wing required to carry a Nimbus 2000 to be 2.63 1.19.

Introduction
In the film Harry Potter and the Philosophers
Stone Harry is delivered a broomstick by a Snowy
Owl. Following on from the paper by Hopton et al
[1] in this paper we will estimate whether a
Snowy Owl could carry a broomstick and develop
a model to determine if there is a trend between
wing area and the weight the birds could carry. Figure 1 Forces and dimensions on cross section of owls wing. Based
on diagram from [2]
Theory
It is clear from Figure 1 that for a bird to be able to take off it must generate enough forward
thrust T to overcome the drag forces D and the combined weight of the bird and the load it is
carrying W must be less than the amount of lift L the wing can generate. Simkiss [2] describes
overcoming the lifting force being the key to the bird remaining airborne so we use this force
balance as the criteria for whether the bird could carry the broomstick. This method assumes an
angle of attack of zero degrees and hence ignores drag as we are considering the bird gliding
horizontally at constant speed.
First we will estimate the weight of the broomstick that the bird carries. The Nimbus 2000 is
described as being made from solid mahogany [3], so the broomstick is modelled as a solid cylinder
of length x 1.5m 0.2m and cross sectional radius r 3cm 1cm. The volume of the broomstick is
calculated to be:
= 2 = 4.24 103 3 2.06 103 3 (1)
The density m of mahogany is quoted to be between 0.5 and 0.85 tons per metre cubed [4]
therefore the mass and weight of the broomstick is estimated using a value of 0.675 tons per metre.
This calculation uses a value of g=9.81ms-2 for gravitational acceleration.
= = 2.835 1.57 (2)
= = 27.81 15.4 (3)

The mass of a Snowy Owl is between 1.6kg and 3kg [5] so for an Owl of mass 2.2kg 0.7kg:
= + = 49.39 22.27 (4)

In order to remain in the air the lift must be greater than the weight therefore the minimum lift is
when the lift equals the weight.
2
= (5)
2

1
Owl Post, October 8th, 2015.

In equation (5) L is the lift force, is the

coefficient of lift, is the density of the air
surrounding the owl, v the velocity at which the owl
is travelling and A the wing area [6]. At the point
where lift equals weight, we can rearrange equation
(5) to get the coefficient of lift as the subject.
2
= 2 (6)
Using equation (6) for the weight calculated above,
an air density of 1.204kgm-3 [7], estimated cruising
speed of 11ms-1 [9] and a cross sectional area of
0.2576m2 [8], the coefficient of lift at the point of Figure 2 The relationship between coefficient of lift
equilibrium is: and the wing area of the bird using Equation (2)
= 2.63 1.19
Discussion
The calculated value of the coefficient of lift is comparable to that of an advanced military jet;
however the lower limit of error places the value within the anticipated range of 1 or 2. The
calculation of cL suggests that to enable the owl to maintain flight carrying the broomstick, the bird
and broomstick combined must have a high coefficient of lift. A value of cL much greater than 1
describes a very aerodynamic object and is unusual in manufactured objects. It is likely that the
wings of the bird are very aerodynamic, however the combined system of the owl holding a
broomstick with its feet is unlikely to be highly aerodynamic. Our model of the system neglects any
forces on the owl due to moments caused by the owl carrying a broomstick as we are simply
calculating whether the bird has enough lift to maintain flight.
Figure 2 uses a large range of wing areas; it is expected that a normal owl would have a wing area
of less than 1m2. The trend created using Equation (6) and the constants previously discussed show
that smaller wing areas have greater coefficients of lift, which corroborates the unexpectedly high
calculated value of cL. Therefore in order to carry heavy loads of the order of the mass of the
broomstick small owls must have unrealistically aerodynamic structures.
The calculations made are based around many assumptions; for example estimating the mass of
the broomstick as a simple cylinder and considering the bird in simple horizontal flight. If this
investigation were to be continued it is recommended that these assumptions are investigated.

Conclusion
The likelihood of the combined system of owl and broomstick having a coefficient of lift high
enough to allow the bird to remain in flight is small. A similar argument can be applied to the variety
of differently shaped and sized packages that are delivered by owls in the Harry Potter films,
therefore the authors conclude that the Owl Post, without magic, is not viable.

References
[1] R Hopton, T Glossop, S Jinks, A1_5 Determining the Smallest Migratory Bird Native to Britain able
to carry a Coconut, PST 9, (2011)
[2] K. Simkiss, Bird Flight (Hutchinson Educational, London, 1963).
[3] http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Nimbus_2000 accessed on 07/10/2015
[4] http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wood-density-d_40.html accessed 07/10/2015
[5] http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/snowy-owl/ accessed 07/10/2015
[6] https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/K-12/airplane/lifteq.html accessed 07/10/2015
[7]http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-density-specific-weight-d_600.htmlaccessed 07/10/2015
[8] E. L. Poole, Weights and Wing Areas in North American Birds (American Ornithologists Union,
USA, 1938).
[9] http://web.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/How_Fast.html accessed 19/10/2015