The electrostatic world of insects

Post by hobs » Tue, Oct 29, 2024, 5:25 PM UTC

rtkwe wrote: post #18

tgv wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But can e.g. 3V DC kill? Perhaps by using the body's resistance, but I have the idea that the effect would be different from say 220V AC, which affects the nerves.

Not generally, remember Ohm's Law I = V/R. Internally the body has a resistance of ~300 Ohms as a rough rule while our skin is 1000-10000 depending on the condition and contact area involved. So 3V isn't going to pose any real risk unless it's applied internally and right across a critical nerve leading to your heart or a muscle directly on the heart. For reference pacemakers are generally set to 2-3 volts. Applied e…

Post by deciplex » Tue, Oct 29, 2024, 5:50 PM UTC

tommiegannert wrote: post #33

highfrequency wrote: post #12

> The magic of animal electrostatics is all about size. Large animals don’t meaningfully experience nature’s static—we’re too big to feel it. “As humans, we are living mostly in a gravitational or fluid-dynamics world,” Ortega-Jiménez said. But for tiny beings, gravity is an afterthought. Insects can feel air’s viscosity. While the same laws of physics reign over Earth’s smallest and largest species, the balance of f…

The same question scales outwards. Are there forces taking over from gravity at galactic scale? Like, perhaps the galaxy filaments and voids come about due to something we can't even comprehend. It seems unlikely that humans just happen to be working with the force at the largest "scale." How complicated would it be for a small insect to explain gravity, if they're not normally affected by it in their daily routine?…

Post by jcdny » Tue, Oct 29, 2024, 7:03 PM UTC

BoxOfRain wrote: post #19

tgv wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But can e.g. 3V DC kill? Perhaps by using the body's resistance, but I have the idea that the effect would be different from say 220V AC, which affects the nerves.

You'd have to really try. 10 milliamps across your heart can kill but using Ohm's law we can calculate 3V / 0.010 A to get a resistance of 300 ohms. This means you're probably still going to have a bad time if you apply it directly across your heart during open-heart surgery but other than that 3 volts just isn't enough to drive a lethal current through your skin.

Post by anthk » Tue, Oct 29, 2024, 7:37 PM UTC

smolder wrote: post #31

anthk wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an electric/bug Pokémon ensembling an spider, now I know why. https://m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Galvantula_(Pok%C3... Yes, Pokémon has tons of real life weird biologycs inside. Such as that volcano snail, (Slugma/Magcargo) which exists IRL: https://www.wired.com/2015/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-sc...

Your pokemon example predates any of this research by a few years and so it certainly wouldn't have been known by the creators. It's a coincidence.

Post by hnuser123456 » Tue, Oct 29, 2024, 9:04 PM UTC

tommiegannert wrote: post #33

highfrequency wrote: post #12

> The magic of animal electrostatics is all about size. Large animals don’t meaningfully experience nature’s static—we’re too big to feel it. “As humans, we are living mostly in a gravitational or fluid-dynamics world,” Ortega-Jiménez said. But for tiny beings, gravity is an afterthought. Insects can feel air’s viscosity. While the same laws of physics reign over Earth’s smallest and largest species, the balance of f…

The same question scales outwards. Are there forces taking over from gravity at galactic scale? Like, perhaps the galaxy filaments and voids come about due to something we can't even comprehend. It seems unlikely that humans just happen to be working with the force at the largest "scale." How complicated would it be for a small insect to explain gravity, if they're not normally affected by it in their daily routine?…