Kill a fly in mid-air? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Zeyneb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 05:51:41 pm
content: So you have just air behind that fly. You cannot smash the fly against something.Would an human "fly-killing" athlete be able to do so?

author: Siwastaja
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 06:39:13 pm
content: You can see the answer for yourself when washing your car windshield and headlights. For the exact speed it happens at, hard to say. Maybe 40-50 km/h and up?

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 06:52:19 pm
content: You smash the fly against your palm, i did it many times, they drop on the floor with damaged body/wings. May not be exactly dead though.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 06:55:32 pm
content: Just grab them out of the air with your hand. Some are easier than others. As Muhammad Ali said, "Catching flies is better than training them."

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 06:58:53 pm
content: I know one can slap/swat, one-handed in mid-air, a fly dead: I've done it. I don't know if it died when it hit my hand/fingers, or when it hit the ground, but it was alive before and dead after. It was a large-ish fly, though, body maybe 6mm or quarter inch in length. I don't ever recall the same happening with much smaller fly-like bloodsuckers like mosquitoes (culicadae), black flies (simuliidae), and no-see-ums (ceratopogonidae), which I grew up swatting in the hundreds or thousands each summer (North of the Arctic circle); one needs to either slap them against something, orgraspthem and crush between fingers, or they'll just continue flying.But punch, with ones fist, fingers curled? Guinness' record for the fastest punch was apparently clocked (pun intended) at 45 MPH, so I do believe it is possible for the larger fly variants, but not the smallest ones like fruit flies.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 07:24:48 pm
content: What college was that where they used freeze spray to knock out houseflies, then they krazy glued them to balsa wood/popsicle sticks to make fly-powered airplanes?

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 07:31:47 pm
content: Not college but YT example:

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 09:53:38 pm
content: Quote from: Zeyneb on August 29, 2023, 05:51:41 pmOf course you can smash the fly against something. There are two ways to do it:(1) Hand catching a landed fly is not hard. You merely have to slowly move your hand into position (not on top but a few inches to the side of the fly) and then with one quick move you can have it in your hand. Aim point is about 1 inch above the landed fly. It tries to take off when it sees your hand starting the quick approach, but your hand got there when it managed just to get into the air. Works for me 80%-90% of the time. With it in hand, you can throw it hard to smash it against the ground. Typically the fly is intact but immobilized for a moment by the collision. You can pick it up (I usually use a flip-top sandwich bag) and dispose of it. Nice, easy, and no smear of fly parts on the wall or table. That is how I usually catches the fly that got into the house.(2) If it doesn't land or only lands at unreachable locations , I prefer to hit them in the air mid-flight, also no clean up. The mid-air collision of the fly against the soft bottom of flip-flop/sandals will make sure the fly have a bad day but (most of the time) remains intact. You do have to look where your "flip-flop bat" batted it to. The job usually is done at collision, but at time it may be merely knocked out (ie: it may wake up). So quick disposal of the fly is the next step.If neither way works for you, go get a vacuum cleaner. Approach slow and it will end up literally in the can. But it you don't have a vacuum cleaner handy... There's always rubber-bands. This one will may leave a mess to clean up, but you can shoot the fly at distance of a couple of feet (or more if you are a better rubber-hand shooter than me). My prefer distance is 9 to 12 inches. These two ways of sending the fly to it's next life doesn't involve smashing it mid-air.

author: .RC.
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 09:56:23 pm
content: Don't the world's political and corporate leaders just use their tongue?

author: Kim Christensen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 10:06:03 pm
content: You can with a snap of the wrist... But it's much more fun with "A Salt" weapon:

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2023, 10:21:32 pm
content: Quote from: Rick Law on August 29, 2023, 09:53:38 pmI find above and behind, and maybe a little to one side, most effective. Of course, I am referring to Spring and Summer flies. Winter flies are no challenge.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 12:43:09 am
content: Quote from: Rick Law on August 29, 2023, 09:53:38 pm^^^ This ^^^ !! Very high success rate!QuoteSlap them with something. I have stunned them with just my hand, but punching won't have enough speed. If their flying pattern is suitable, I will often try and catch them in flight ... and I do succeed on occasion. (No, never tried with chopsticks.)QuoteOpportunities for the vacuum cleaner option is extremely rare - they just aren't patient enough.QuoteNever tried that - but rubber bands aren't something I have easily at hand in my place. (Just don't use them all that often - and when I go looking for them, the ones I find are usually perished.)

author: aeberbach
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 01:21:30 am
content: I killed a wasp mid-air once. It was one of those hot days where the windows are open so the wasps fly in and get angry. This was maths class, and I grabbed the metre-long blackboard ruler in a two-handed grip. "You are an idiot and it will sting you" said the teacher. I took one swing with my wooden katana and there was an audible crack, then the dead wasp hit the floor. Hushed admiration! I had hit peak cool, aged 14.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 04:22:21 am
content: A cheap handheld bug zapper (the kind that looks like a tennis racket) quickly gets rid of them if they're within reach. If they're not in reach, a battery operated 1W blue laser (and laser safety glasses!) quickly damages them when hit, even if they fly off, they don't live long after that.

author: Dundarave
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 05:50:19 am
content: Quote from: DavidAlfa on August 30, 2023, 05:11:44 amThese things are the absolute best ever. Flys, wasps, you name it. Even if they’re on the window: just lay it flat and hit the button. The dead critter also tends to stay stuck in the open mesh, so it’s simple to walk it outside, give the thing a rap with your hand, and the dead bug gets flicked off.Highly recommended.

author: Zoli
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 05:55:07 am
content: Quote from: floobydust on August 29, 2023, 07:24:48 pmIt won't fly(pun intended), since the fly has to jump to start flying. I can still catch flies with bare hands; usually, I feed them - to a spider

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 07:04:41 am
content: It's a lot more satisfying watching them exploding with a loud Bang! instead catching them with your hands.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 07:40:11 am
content: Fruit flies and the smaller bloodsucking varieties are too small for the electric swatter to zap them. They just pass through.

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 08:44:30 am
content: Yesterday I hand clapped a fly. Unfortunately I managed to catch it directly between the heels of my hand.Then I have to clean the splat off.Sometimes you don't expect to actually catch them and then regret it when you do.

author: mengfei
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 08:57:08 am
content: what ever happened to those good'ol flyswatter

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 08:57:31 am
content: Where are those starwars insect killers we we're promised?

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 04:44:21 pm
content: Punching would be hard but in theory I can't see why not. I have slapped flies out of the air hard enough for them to die. Hornets too, that's a bit risky but I bank on the fact that if they don't die on first impact they die when they hit the ground. It's kind of comical doing that with others around they think you're some kind of ninja.Those electric rackets are fun too. One of these days I want to 18650 swap one to give it a bit of extra power.

author: Siwastaja
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 04:54:21 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on August 29, 2023, 06:58:53 pmWhen it comes to crushing, would you agree these guys are really fun and games:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipoptena_cervi. You really have to tear them apart with your fingernails, or crush them between two 9V batteries as they are so tough and... gummy.

author: .RC.
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 09:31:13 pm
content: Quote from: Marco on August 30, 2023, 08:57:31 amThey designed them for stormtroopers to use. Then thought what is the point if you can not hit anything.

author: AndyBeez
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 10:32:46 pm
content: Be like water young Grasshopper... Flyswater.

author: mengfei
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 01:32:10 am
content: OR try a pair of Chopsticksoh since were on the topic of Fly.....a friend ask why does a fly or mosquito doesn't get left behind when it's flying mid-air in a moving vehicle

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 04:29:45 am
content: Quote from: Siwastaja on August 30, 2023, 04:54:21 pmI would rather pet a tarantula –– and I do have slight arachnophobia –– that deal with those darn squirmy obstinate toughthings.Those who do not know, these are a type of fly that drop their wings and burrow under the skin of various types of deer, elk, and moose. They do not usually bite humans, but when they do, the allergic reaction can be very severe. Typically, you don't mind them much, unless one happens to bite; the next summer and autumn and after that, you will be damn quick to remove them when they land on you. I classify them more annoying and worse thanhybomitrahorse flies, which literally bite a hole in your skin, with the bite easily getting inflamed. (However, I do considersimuliidaeand especiallyceratopogonidaeworse, because at 1-2mm they can get through netting, like to crawl through tight spaces like inside your socks, and also bite very painfully. Theceratopogonidaebite is like being poked with a very hot needle.)Lipoptena cerviis also the pest that will end reindeer herding in Nordic countries in the next few decades. Reindeer are already at their limit, it being too warm (too many parasites, actually) for them during the summertime. Lipoptena cervi has slowly crept North in Finland, and has now reached the southernmost limit of the reindeer region; it is guaranteed to push the parasitic load on reindeer over the limit, so that large-scale reindeer herding (currently 200,000 - 300,000 in Northern Finland alone) will become unfeasible. The much smaller size of the Nordic reindeer compared to Siberian reindeer due to the largest bucks being neutered and used for pulling sleds does not help, either: it leads to a larger skin to body ratio, and thus smaller resistance against cutaneous and subcutaneous parasites.I personally grew up well north of the region where lipotena cervi is found. My first summer in the Åland Archipelago with ticks (ixodes ricinus) carrying tick borne encephalitis, with lots of lipoptena cervi landing in your hair, wasfunbut alsoscary. At least I'm basically immune to Puumala haemorrhagic fever (spread by aerosolized bank vole droppings when sweeping) due to genetic heritage, like most ethnic Finns are!

author: mengfei
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 06:30:50 am
content: ^ what kind of Flies are thosehere are some that i took when i was still into photographyBut these are the tough ones!

author: .RC.
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 07:24:42 am
content: Why are they even called flies.A plane flies. A bird eats flies and flies itself.Time flies like an arrow.But fruit flies like a banana.So confusing.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 07:26:02 am
content: Quote from: mengfei on August 31, 2023, 06:30:50 amThey're all blood-ingesting flies that bite (as opposed to e.g. mosquitoes which pierce skin with their proboscis):Lipoptena cervi, also known as deer ked or deer fly, are louse fliesHybomitrais a genus of horse flies, and belong to true fliesSimuliidae, also known as black fly, are quite small pests counted as gnats or midgesCeratopogonidae, also known as no-see-ums and biting midges, are tiny; here, a millimeter or less in length – so smaller even than small fruit flies –, with their Finnish name, "polttiainen", referring to the burning feeling they cause when bitingIn Finnish, only houseflies (musca domestica) are called flies or "kärpänen"; the various types have all their own distinct names based on their behaviour ("hirvikärpänen", "paarma", "mäkäräinen", "polttiainen", respectively, for the four above).Typical electric flyswatters intended for mosquitoes and houseflies tend to passsimuliidaethrough unless they've already eaten, and bothceratopogonidaeand small fruitflies just aren't large enough to short the two electrode meshes at all, passing through no matter how slow or fast you swipe.DEETworks very well for mosquitoes, butsimuliidaeand especiallyceratopogonidaein Finland require a higher concentration (50%) of DEET to be fully repelled, but it is over the legal concentration here. I'm not certain about icaridin's effectiveness as a repellent for those. Raid insecticide works well, but a transparent sticky tape near the bottom edge of window panes works really well too, and is much less toxic. After moving 1Mm south decades ago, I now have zero immunity against the bites, and actually get a heavy allergic reaction which requires hydrocortizone cream to calm down. (I've tried just about every other product sold in Finland too, because I either cannot sleep, or scratch the bites bloody while asleep, inflaming them badly; so do not bother suggesting any. It is an immune system reaction, essentially an allergy, at this point.)

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 12:34:15 pm
content: I wonder how cheap erbium doped fiber pulse lasers can be made, it's not like you need ns level pulses. 10 kw for 10s of microseconds would probably be good enough.

author: BrokenYugo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 12:43:33 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on August 30, 2023, 07:40:11 amTry adding a doubler? The crappy 630V film cap they usually use on the output tends to degrade fast anyway.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 01:52:45 pm
content: Quote from: BrokenYugo on August 31, 2023, 12:43:33 pmThe problem with that is the stink larger zapped flies will make: burned chitin smells awful. Making a swatter with smaller spacing would work, though.Fortunately, gnats and midges are not as keen on getting indoors as houseflies and mosquitoes, for some reason.Also, fruit flies are easy to catch using a little bit of vinegar in a glass, covered by cling film perforated with a needle.

author: BrokenYugo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 02:22:49 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on August 31, 2023, 01:52:45 pmThat's the thing though, once most of the metallization is burned out of that crappy underspecified cap you have to "fry" them and make them smell even more to get the kill. To work right they need two things, enough static voltage across the grids that any insect passing through will start an arc, and a capacitor to finish the job, sized to vaporize a mosquito and instantly kill flies, wasps, etc. Obviously the output capacitor would be reduced to keep the energy reasonable and keep it reasonably safe to fingers.

author: iMo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 02:49:19 pm
content: We - all the contributors here - are actually theinvasive speciesfor all the flies you have mentioned above

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 02:58:25 pm
content: Quote from: iMo on August 31, 2023, 02:49:19 pmSo is everything that uses oxygen respiration forClostridium botulinum.

author: iMo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 03:08:15 pm
content: All the flies were here, say, 300.000.000 years before the eevblog era..

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 03:15:34 pm
content: Quote from: iMo on August 31, 2023, 03:08:15 pmAnd anaerobic bacteria likeClostridium botulinumprecedes all multicellular oxygen-using life by half a billion years.Are you implying we should respect their 'dibs' and die of botulism? You go first.

author: Siwastaja
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 06:39:13 pm
content: Along with spiders, I like the common houseflies, they are great pets. Zero costs, you don't even have to buy them; they just appear out of nowhere, they find something to eat by themselves, it's funny to watch how they use that integrated vacuum cleaner like thing to enjoy spilled coffee or something, or watch how they carefully rub themselves clean, part by part, only to start over right after being finished. Good company, and no vet bills.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 08:59:09 pm
content: @SiwastajaDon't bother inviting me to diner.Have you read about "myiasis?" We had a patient who celebrated Chinese New Year at a popular local Chinese Restaurant. The cause of her illness was, relevant to your comments, ingestion of maggots from improperly washed vegetables. Anything odd that a physician sees gets referred to the microbiology laboratory. It was a common house fly.Here's a nursery rhyme in America, "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly..." (https://wordsforlife.org.uk/activities/there-was-old-lady/#:~:text=There%20was%20an%20old%20lady%20who%20swallowed%20a%20spider%2C,%2D%20Perhaps%20she'll%20die!)

author: .RC.
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 09:07:08 pm
content: Speaking of parasites, I read recently in the news of a person where surgeons removed a live worm out of her brain.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-66643241

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 09:14:55 pm
content: Quote from: iMo on August 31, 2023, 03:08:15 pmJurassic Park?Edit: My advisor collected amber. It's amazing to see a virtually perfect fly preserved in something that is not quite old, but very old nevertheless..

author: metrologist
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 09:34:20 pm
content: Maybe not a jab but a full overhand hook. Of course, I usually slap them into the wall or something else hard.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2023, 05:40:34 am
content: Up north, we have a few dozen bird houses to help manage the local mosquito/gnat/midge/fly population in check.I love the local spiders, especially indoors, because none are any danger at all to humans: their fangs cannot pierce human skin, and they have no parasites that can infect/migrate to humans. They eat the ones that manage to avoid the netting, which means I don't have to use Raid to get some sleep.The birds do funny stuff. If you're there when they start nesting, they learn to accept your presence without getting alarmed, and will interact with you in funny ways. When mowing the lawn, they like to check what gets exposed; when splitting wood, check if tasty morsels are revealed. In the evenings, when the flying bloodsuckers formvisible clouds, if you're outside puttering about, the birds fly around you catching dozens of them at once, sometimes even landing on you, with several bugs lined up in their beak.A line of female goldeneyes have nested in two specific birdhouses for decades. I swear theyknowus; they definitely don't seem to be bothered us doing yard stuff beneath the birdhouse, and feel safe coming back even if we stand just a couple of meters away. One year, mom had netting to stop rabbits from eating the berry bushes, blocking the goldeneyes' chosen path to the lake, with a couple of the little goldeneyelings being unable to get through. Mom had to lift them over by hand, but the goldeneye wasn't frazzled, just waited patiently tapping her feet, the way ducks do to tell their ducklings to come along.

author: Siwastaja
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2023, 06:05:33 am
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on August 31, 2023, 08:59:09 pmDear jpanhalt, you are most welcome to enjoy dinner with us (including all the flying little friends).But quite seriously, I'm under an assumption that houseflies here are nearly 99.999% free of any diseases or parasites, just like the mosquitoes do not spread any diseases either. Except when they do, and maybe the risk is slowly increasing with the climate warming, but I still consider it a very low risk item. If I were to live in India, I might consider buying the UV zapper thing instead of keeping houseflies as pets.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2023, 06:58:16 am
content: Quote from: Siwastaja on September 01, 2023, 06:05:33 amMyiasis does not occur with houseflies here at all; even withlipoptena cerviandhybomitrait is unheard of. There isn't a Finnish word at all for myiasis, as it only occurs here with deer, moose, reindeer, horses, and cows. You might get a stomach bug from housefly-tampered food, but that's about it.Mosquitoes do spread tularemia (rabbit fever), Pogosta disease, and Inkoo encephalitis. Half of tularemia cases have no symptoms, typically it shows up as a summer/autumn cold. Pogosta disease is a rash at the bite site. Inkoo encephalitis is a flu-like virus infection mostly affecting kids. In some cases, these can all trigger long-term joint pain issues, but it isn't clear whether that is actually an autoimmune effect. In typical years all these cases are counted in the dozens, and if you get hundred cases (out of a population of 5.5 million), it is classified an epidemic. These are not deadly.Tick-borne diseases and aerosolized bank vole droppings are a bigger risk. Most Finns are immune to the Puumala virus (and if we catch it as a kid, it will only have flu-like symptoms and give a life-long immunity), but an Israeli researcher did die of it a few years ago here. It does not spread at all, you can only catch it directly from the vole droppings. Ticks spread borreliosis, tick-borne encephalitis (TBEV-Sib and TBEV-FE), and there has been one case of babesiosis. Fortunately, both borreliosis or encephalitis infection can be avoided by removing the tick early (and correctly, including its mouth parts, which can be left in the bite if incorrectly removed). Borreliosis can usually be treated with antibiotics, and there is a vaccine against TBEV.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 07:30:58 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on September 01, 2023, 06:58:16 amFlies eat by throwing up their digestive fluid onto their food, then suck up the digesting mess. So if a fly had attempted to feed from your plate of food, you may well be eating your food plus some fly saliva. Just the thought of that makes me loose my appetite.Mosquito bites will cause skin irritation at minimum, scratching it or fussing with it further can cause further skin rashes.The pluses, I suppose: when I am taking care of my kid's cat, he does enjoy hunting them down. So they are a cat-toy to some degree.

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2023, 05:02:59 pm
content: We have "miggies", tiny little mosquitto life gnats which will and do eat you alive. Usually in the evenings, when camping or sitting out for an evening and they start to eat your head. It's not sore, it's just really, really irritating. When they are really, really bad you can end up just havivg to leave because you are literally scratching your head raw. They are completely impervious to bug repeelent. The only way to stop them is a raging camp fire.

author: EPAIII
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 02:46:34 pm
content: Kill a fly in mid air? I had an uncle who could do just that. And not just once, but well over 50% of the time.He could also crush the old, STEEL beer cans with one hand. When they switched to aluminum cans he said it was too easy to be any fun.Cheap tricks to impress your friends and family. And enemies too, I suppose. But both are true.He died on the ski slopes.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 06:50:27 pm
content: Quote from: EPAIII on September 07, 2023, 02:46:34 pmWell you got an uncle that can do it, I got Maxim. Child's play for him.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 09:24:04 pm
content: I use the bottom of my flip-flop as swatter to hit the fly mid-air, that is easy.Now a more interesting thing to do is: May be a combination of after-market and custom Arduino stuff (sonic distance sensors, motion detectors, optical sensors, etc.).. Use the Arduino to read multiple sensors to triangulate and evaluate distance, control the aiming motors with appropriate aiming, and triggers firing a rubber-band to hit the fly mid-air... An Arduino version of "close in air defense" against flies. That would be an interesting project to do - even at the proof of concept level of "can it be done" would be interesting...

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2023, 02:39:57 am
content: Here's a method, on topic but slightly different; For being RID of a fly in the room.I discovered an agitated fly will soon venture over to a large open window, but screened, maybe sensing danger. Fly will perch on the screen for a while. Well then, I just simply slide the window closed; now the FLY is trapped, in the slim space between outside screen and the glass pane.Then, one less pesky FLY goes 'crrunnch' after I've circled around from outside, and (gently) poked the sucker,...to heaven...