Electric Fields Elicit Ballooning in Spiders/ Curr. Biol., Jul. 5, 2018 (Vol. 28, Issue 14) | Cell Press | YouTube
Posted on 07/05/2018 11:01:28 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Sometimes, when it rains or when they feel the urge to migrate, spiders get out their little silk knapsacks, and balloon away.
This ballooning behaviour is well understood by spider scientists, but researchers have recently discovered that electric fields can not only trigger the behaviour, but also provide lift – even without the slightest breeze...
They travel via the atmospheric potential gradient (APG), an electric circuit between Earth and the ionosphere - the part of Earth's upper atmosphere that's ionised by solar radiation.
Thunderstorms act like a giant battery for the APG, charging up and maintaining the electric fields in the atmosphere.
The researchers explain that the idea of ballooning behaviour being caused by this electric circuit was first floated in the 1800's, but had been dismissed not long after, without being tested...
Morley and Roberts... caught spiders from the genius Erigone from a balloon trap, and set up an experiment without stimuli such as air movement or atmospheric electricity. Then they turned on an artificial electric field and watched what would happen.
The team did indeed find that the spiders went ballooning when the field was on, and the field's electrostatic forces alone were enough to power the movement; it's the same force that lifts up your hair if you rub a balloon on your head.
When the researchers switched off the electric field, the spiders would glide down; turning the field on made them move upwards (those spiders would have been so confused)...
Spiders have sensory hairs called trichobothria that would move in response to the electric field, which the researchers believe is what the spiders use to detect the APG.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...
Electric Fields Elicit Ballooning in Spiders/ Curr. Biol., Jul. 5, 2018 (Vol. 28, Issue 14) | Cell Press | YouTube
Sleep tight! ;^D
Pffft. Give me enough electricity and watch me fly thru the air.
Electric flying spiders??!! Next they’ll have laser beams eyes and spiders have eight eyes! That’s it we’re doomed, it’s all over!
I have a pool, no cage/screen. We routinely have spiders float into the pool, no balloon silk, just riding the air.
Whenever I fly the TR-3B, that’s how it’s powered.
That and a Mr. Home Fusion.
Soon, the spider civilization will be making sport of our base ten based failures.
I for one welcome our new electric flying spider overlords.
Scared of spiders? Look away now! Terrifying photos reveal FOUR-ACRE web teeming with 107 MILLION arachnids
By Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline
Published: 11:37 EDT, 3 November 2014
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2819066/Scared-spiders-Look-away-Terrifying-photos-reveal-FOUR-ACRE-web-teeming-107-MILLION-arachnids.html
Hey, as long as you can stick the landing...
Small spiders only.
Imagine if a full grown Huntsman, as otherwise harmless to people as they are, could do this?
Flying spiders. Great.
This must also be how Superman does that flying thing, right?
Heh... fusion is a dead end though.
No one would ever go outside again, or would carry a tennis racket with a small-bore shotgun in the handle. ;^) Luckily, Huntsman is always high.
Eight legs. You know the spider’s number system will be octal.
Figure this phenomenon out, and low earth orbit will be a piece of cake. For everybody.
5.56mm
I recall a letter to the editors of a Superman comic book from my childhood, explained Superman’s ability to fly with a bunch of equations. Of course, it didn’t explain how he can fly while carrying anyone or anything. That bumped me until I circled around to the fact that Superman is, uh, not a fact. :^)
[snip] while all spiders are arachnids, not all arachnids are spiders. [/snip]
Camel Spiders: Facts & Myths
By Jessie Szalay, Live Science Contributor | December 16, 2014
https://www.livescience.com/40025-camel-spiders-facts.html
Not with Mr. Home Fusion. You just put in trash and you’re good to go.
It’s what I do when I visit either the Mars base or the base we have on the dark side of the Moon.
I only need some leftover tomatoes and banana peels. Sometimes for Mars I’ll put in a few cookies. Accelerates faster.
;)
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