very interesting article. It is a pity that his column has no rss feed.
How mosquitos deal with getting hit by raindrops
71–80 of 81 posts
Re: How mosquitos deal with getting hit by raindrops
#72Of course the video doesn't show anything interesting, the mosquito's leg is hardly even grazed. I was definitely hoping for the version where a drop smacked the insect dead on target. Fairly strange for a lab result - if that's the only video that was captured, it really doesn't seem to divulge much at all. Where's the cool video? :D
Yeah it's weird especially since you just get done reading about how they get away with getting hit between the wings and then you get told "if you want to see this for yourself, watch the video" ... lol Still a good read with fun drawings :)
To me it looked like he linked the wrong video accidentally, since it didn't match up with the text at all.
Re: How mosquitos deal with getting hit by raindrops
#73Not really important but.. "nine gravities (88/m/squared)"
I don't get it, the scientificamerican blog that they are quoting has the right units, where did they come up with this?
Re: How mosquitos deal with getting hit by raindrops
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is a joke that makes more sense once you've been bitten there.
In Texas, we'd call that a tall tale.
Up north a few winters back the weather was so cold that words froze up as you talked. People had to stand around a fire to have a conversation. When spring thaw finally came the sound of all the melting conversations was deafening.
Then there was the time that Pecos Bill lassoed and rode a twister, but that's a tale for another time.
Re: How mosquitos deal with getting hit by raindrops
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this can be approached the same as the "ants can lift 50 times their own weight" bit of trivia. It doesn't translate to "if a human were as strong as an ant he'd be able to lift an elephant" because size doesn't scale that way. Ants and mosquitoes get away with larger forces relative to their mass because the skeleton and muscles needed are still within reasonable material and fuel costs. A human-sized animal…
I think theVirginian was commenting about mosquitoes getting smashed on a car's windshield, not about cars and humans.
Oh, right. I thought it was a reference to "the equivalent of a human being whacked by a school bus" from the article.
Re: How mosquitos deal with getting hit by raindrops
#76> But because our mosquito is oh-so-light, the raindrop moves on, unimpeded, and hardly any force is transferred. All that happens is that our mosquito is suddenly scooped up by the raindrop and finds itself hurtling toward the ground at a velocity of roughly nine meters per second, an acceleration which can’t be very comfortable, because it puts enormous pressure on the insect’s body, up to 300 gravities worth, says…
From your link: > In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know. Which is of course intriguing, since cat-v.org hosts frothing-at-the-mouth vitriol about topics…
It's telling that you'd apply a derogatory label and attack the source medium rather than say anything of substance about the content that offended you.
cat-v is chock-full of food for thought. You don't have to agree with any of it and in fact disagreement is a large part of the site.
"Other than total and complete world domination, the overriding goal is to encourage and stimulate critical and independent thinking."
Re: How mosquitos deal with getting hit by raindrops
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is pretty sloppy, but if you assume that `pressure' is just meant as a synonym for `strain', which it is in normal English, it does make some sense. And velocity and acceleration aren't confused under a very charitable interpretation: they describe that the velocity changes `suddenly'. That's an acceleration. The real problem is here: > But because our mosquito is oh-so-light, the raindrop moves on, unimpeded, and…
> We have a transfer of momentum (force times time), but no dissipation of energy (force times path). Even the transfer of momentum is much less than it would be if the mosquito were heavier though. The droplet maintains most of its original momentum. That seems to be the point they're trying to make.
Yes. Though for the mosquito it doesn't matter: transferring momentum doesn't damage you.
An interesting human scale contrast is the following:
You have (a) a heavy metal box or (b) a light wooden box and you throw (1) a bouncy rubber ball or (2) an equally heavy piece of clay at it. What happens in all four combinations?
One observation: the rubber ball transfers more momentum, but almost no energy.
Re: How mosquitos deal with getting hit by raindrops
#78The article embedded a short video. Here's longer video with explanations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ88ny09ruM
Re: How mosquitos deal with getting hit by raindrops
#79Re: How mosquitos deal with getting hit by raindrops
#80A commenter on the site says that some type of mosquitoes (Texas) are used in oil drilling. I tried googling "texas mosquitoes oil drilling" and variants, but didn't find anything. >"Why, one species even secretes an enzyme to dissolve the organic matter in blood leaving only the iron in haemoglobin. Then another enzyme causes the iron atoms to join to form biological drill pipe! These structures are known to be as m…
That is a joke that makes more sense once you've been bitten there.
I laughed for a good minute after reading your comment... Hope it counts!