The story just sounded too good to be true: in 1997 researchers had examined with a computer model how the dinosaur type Apatosaurus Louisae strikes with her tail, and came to a fascinating conclusion: If the animal swings it, it succeeds so quickly that it How the case of a whip could break through the sound barrier and create a small overs sound bang. The blow of the tail should not only be painful for predators, but should also be able to serve as a warning or communication signal.
25 years later, computer models have improved dramatically. A team led by Simone Conti from the NOVA School of Science and Technology thus leaves the air out of the work at that time in "Scientific Reports". The new calculations show that the dinosaur tail could not even begin to reach the speed to trigger a buckle bang.
Conti and Co used five diplodocid copies to which Apatosaurus Louisae belongs to create a model of a typical sauropod cock. With a length of twelve meters and a weight of 1.44 tons, these cocks were already very impressive. They were moved with 82 vertebrae and were therefore quite flexible. At least the tips could reach speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour in the blow. However, this is significantly below the sound speed of 1235.5 kilometers per hour.
In fact, the tail would have been broken if the dinos could have swung it at this pace. At least that's what the simulation showed. The scientists also took into account that the air composition in the Cretaceous period differed from that of today: it has an effect on the speed of sound. Even when they still added buffers in the tail to the model, he would not have withstood this load.
