Water striders are insects that have developed a technique
allowing them to seem as they walk on top of water. On top of that they escape
their predators such as frogs, other insects, and fish by leaping vertically
while still not breaking the water tension upon landing. This insect does so by
bringing its legs in and slowly pushing down onto the water in a slow manner at
first. The water strider speeds up the motion of its legs without ever using an
amount of power that could break the water tension during the jump.
This jumping tactic of the insect was discovered through
high speed video analyzed by researchers at Seoul National University. These
researchers than combined with scientist from Harvard to create size equivalent robot in order to prove their hypothesis. This robot carried out the function
of a water strider by an alloy being able to stretch its length and than when
heated go back to its original form. They included artificial legs that worked
like a moveable spring attached to the alloy. The scientist based their jumping
form off a flea by bringing the legs in at a slow motion than quickening it.
The robot was able to successfully jump as a water strider would. This research
was done in order for researchers to understand the locomotion of this insect
in a better way.
As a child I had always wondered how water striders were
able to stay on the surface of water, figuring their body weight was simply
very low. These small insects have been able to figure out exactly how much
force is able to break water surface tension and have nearly perfected their
technique to avoid doing so is truly fascinating.
I had always thought the insects were just too light to break the cohesion between water molecules. Knowing they control the force to find the ideal pressure to exert is very cool.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this new insight is fascinating in more ways than one. It shows how unique each creature is and how they all possess various qualities for their environments.
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