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WASHINGTON – Cloudy with a chance to … spiders?
The phenomenon of "flying" spiders flying in the air and traveling like balloons for hundreds of kilometers has a new possible explanation: the natural electricity of the air
Air travel in Spider – often known as "hot air ballooning" – have been observed for a long time, especially by the biologist Charles Darwin, who documented the show in his journal in the 19th century
. spiders weave very fine silk threads that sink into the wind and transport them at altitude, sometimes over great distances at high altitudes.
But this does not explain how spiders fly in rainy or windless weather. 19659002] The static electricity of the atmosphere – the one that bristles the hairs after rubbing a balloon on a wool sweater – is another possible explanation that researchers at the University of Bristol have decided to put to the test.
File: Res The researchers concluded that electrostatic forces are sufficient to make spiders fly. Credit: AFP
In their results published Thursday in the journal Current Biology, scientists described how they put up a box to create an isolated atmosphere of ambient air and therefore without the electric field present on Earth .
Inside, they placed a small Erigone spider – a senior author-type Erica Morley described as "Frequent Astronauts."
With the electric field lit, the researchers observed that the Spider pointed its abdomen in the air, let go of a long lock of silk and rolled it in the air.
But when it was extinguished, the spiders kept their legs on the ground
The researchers concluded that electrostatic waves forces are sufficient to make spiders fly – but arachnids probably use both methods at once.
Other wingless organisms, including many caterpillars and spiders, also take in.
There is still much to explore on the subject, especially on the physical properties of spider silk.
AFP
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