Pterosaurs were an ancient group of winged reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs. Many pterosaurs were very large, some as large as a giraffe and with a wingspan of over 12 meters. Paleontologists have long wondered whether large pterosaurs were capable of powered flight (flying by flapping their wings) or whether they were able only to glide. Several arguments have been made against powered flight.
Doubters point out that since modern reptiles are cold-blooded, ancient reptiles such as pterosaurs were probably cold-blooded as well. Cold-blooded animals typically have a slow metabolism and are unable to produce a lot of energy. Powered flight is an activity requiring a lot of energy, which is why all modern vertebrates that fly are warm-blooded, not cold-blooded. It seemed unlikely that pterosaurs would have been able to generate the energy needed to fly.
Second, there is a limit to the weight of animals that can be kept airborne by powered flight. Pterosaurs that were as large as a giraffe were probably so heavy that they would not have been able to flap their wings fast enough to stay aloft for any length of time.
Third, all animals with powered flight are able to take off from the ground. For example, birds take off by jumping from their legs or running to gain speed and then jumping. But these methods would not have worked for large pterosaurs. Large pterosaurs would have needed big, powerful muscles in their back legs to launch themselves into the air, and we know from fossilized bones that their back leg muscles were too small and weak to allow the pterosaurs to run fast enough or jump high enough to launch themselves into the air.
The passage and lecture both talk about whether Pterosaurs could have powered flight or not. The author believes that Pterosaurs were incapable of powered flight, yet the professor holds an opposite view.
The passage indicates that since Pterosaurs were probably cold-blooded, they could not produce a lot of energy for powered flight like warm-blooded vertebrates. However, the professor points out that fossils of Pterosaurs were found covered by fur-like hair, which is a feature of warm-blooded animals, they might have a much faster metabolism than the reading suggests, and that could give them the energy for powered flight.
The author suggests that Pterosaurs were probably too large and heavy so that they could not keep themselves airborne. Nevertheless, the professor mentions that despite their large sizes, Pterosaurs were probably light enough due to their hollow bone structures, and that means it is possible that they could fly by flapping their wings.
The passage says that Pterosaurs’ small back legs were too weak to launch themselves into the air, so they could not take off from the ground. On the contrary, the professor argues that Pterosaurs did not take off like birds do. They actually used their four limbs to run fast or to jump high to launch themselves. That is why their hind limbs would not be a problem for powered flight.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-12-06 | marii.r67 | 80 | view |
| 2019-11-13 | shirley5001 | 80 | view |
| 2019-11-13 | shirley5001 | 80 | view |
| 2019-11-03 | Seema Modak | 78 | view |
| 2019-11-03 | Seema Modak | 78 | view |
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 2, column 1, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
... the professor holds an opposite view. The passage indicates that since Pterosaurs...
^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, however, nevertheless, so, on the contrary
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 10.0 10.4613686534 96% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 8.0 5.04856512141 158% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 7.30242825607 96% => OK
Relative clauses : 13.0 12.0772626932 108% => OK
Pronoun: 28.0 22.412803532 125% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 24.0 30.3222958057 79% => OK
Nominalization: 0.0 5.01324503311 0% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1146.0 1373.03311258 83% => OK
No of words: 222.0 270.72406181 82% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.16216216216 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.8600083453 4.04702891845 95% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.63717869478 2.5805825403 102% => OK
Unique words: 124.0 145.348785872 85% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.558558558559 0.540411800872 103% => OK
syllable_count: 331.2 419.366225166 79% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 3.25607064018 123% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.23620309051 97% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 3.0 1.51434878587 198% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 10.0 13.0662251656 77% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 22.0 21.2450331126 104% => OK
Sentence length SD: 60.3055552997 49.2860985944 122% => OK
Chars per sentence: 114.6 110.228320801 104% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.2 21.698381199 102% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.2 7.06452816374 74% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 4.19205298013 24% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 4.33554083885 69% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.222745801999 0.272083759551 82% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.102045742494 0.0996497079465 102% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0599765899919 0.0662205650399 91% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.152364098643 0.162205337803 94% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0430709741952 0.0443174109184 97% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.0 13.3589403974 105% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 57.61 53.8541721854 107% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 11.0289183223 97% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.65 12.2367328918 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.57 8.42419426049 90% => OK
difficult_words: 40.0 63.6247240618 63% => More difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 10.7273730684 126% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 10.498013245 103% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.2008830022 125% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 75.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.5 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.