How could we resist? Despite a narrative that oscillates between the ridiculous and the absolutely absurd, Holy Grail opens with a moment of admirable skepticism.
King Arthur Graham Chapman appears on screen, joined by his trusty servant Patsy Terry Gilliam , accompanied by the sound of horses. Those horses or at least the sound of their hooves turn out to be little more than two halves of a coconut being banged together. The pair approach a castle, make their introductions, and entreat upon the occupants for an audience with their lord and master.
What follows is a delightful back and forth between Arthur and the castle's occupants regarding the provenance of the coconuts. You've surely seen it before, but it's worth watching again. Over the course of their discussion, several bits of information are provided and scenarios suggested as possible explanations for how the coconuts found their way to these lands.
Let's examine. First, it's suggested that a typical European swallow weighs 5 ounces and must beat its wings 43 times per second in order to maintain airspeed velocity. This is given as evidence that the bird could not, in fact, carry a 1-pound coconut.
At least not without a partner and a strand of creeper held beneath the dorsal guiding feather. Firstly, the average European swallow is not actually 5 ounces. In fact, they weigh less than an ounce , which surely makes a difference in how much weight they are capable of carrying while on the wing, especially when it comes to the question of couriering coconuts.
Additionally, a European swallow need not flap its wings 43 times per second in order to maintain airspeed. It's more like 12, or fewer, depending on the species. So far we've determined Arthur's opponent to have overestimated both the mass of the bird in question and the number of wing flaps per second. To further diminish the case for coconut-carrying swallows, the average coconut is approximately 1-and-a-half pounds, approximately 34 times heavier than a European swallow.
There is little information available on the carrying capacity of swallows, either African or European. But given the weight disparities involved, we can safely assume that even a team of swallows, utilizing some sort of makeshift litter devised of creeper vines woven together, would still be incapable of transporting a coconut over even short distances.
Assuming, of course, that was something a group of swallows wanted to do. There are, however, birds capable of carrying something as heavy, or heavier than a coconut. Namely, some of the larger raptors, like eagles.
Again, there is some dispute among experts as to the maximum carrying capacity of eagles in flight. Clearly, we need to pump some funding into bird weight-lifting research.
It's common for these predatory birds to capture and carry prey weighing in at 1 to 2 pounds, though there have been instances of carrying prey upward of 5 or 6 pounds over distances of at least a mile. Suffice it to say, a single eagle could pretty easily carry a coconut without breaking too much of a sweat only an expression, birds don't actually sweat , and a couple of eagles with some vine and a little gumption could carry a whole group of coconuts. Fun fact: A group of eagles is called a convocation.
What is the average air speed velocity of a laden swallow? To this I say: Ha-ha. Very funny. They need to cross a bridge to continue their quest but in order to do so, they have to answer the above question. This was certainly a tricky question to say the least. Lots of physics involved that I have pushed to those dusty corners in my mind.
Not to mention you need to know a little bit about swallows. Some found in Africa, others in Europe. What is air speed velocity? In order to calculate the airspeed you have to take the difference between ground speed and the wind speed. Ground speed is the speed in which an object moves relative to some reference point on the ground. Wind speed is the speed in which the air moves relative to some reference point on the ground.
If there was a case in which a day had absolutely no wind, the ground speed is equal to the wind speed. Of course this is highly unlikely to ever happen.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail still continues to amuse today. For fans, one question from the movie often provokes discussion - what is the airspeed of an unladen swallow? This question was originally posed on the Bridge of Death by the troll who guards it. If visitors answered any question given to them correctly, they were allowed to pass. If they didn't know the answer, then they were plunged into the pit below. If you are having trouble remembering, be sure to watch the short clip above of the comedic scene.
In the same scene, the question is posed of whether this refers to an African or a European swallow. We'll have to take this into account when we do our math later, too. The discussion also includes the question of how two halves of a coconut ended up in Europe, with the proposition that a swallow carried a coconut from the tropics.
Take a look at the clip below to refresh your memory of that. First, we need to determine which bird to examine as best fits for those discussed in the movie. There is, in fact, a European swallow, but there is no swallow specifically named the African Swallow. However, there is a South African swallow and a West African swallow, which may be good fits when discussing an African swallow. However, there is almost no data recorded that can give us an indication of the airspeed of either type of African swallow.
Rather than make blind guesses about African swallow, it may be better to look into the capabilities of the European, or Barn, swallow, for which there is.
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