So you understand electrostatics, but can you do this? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2018, 12:21:13 pm
content: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5918477/Electric-fields-atmosphere-secret-spiders-FLY-thousands-miles.htmlSpiders can FLY using electricity in the air, allowing them to travel thousands of miles on windless daysThe writing quality is cringe-inducing. But an interesting story.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2018, 02:37:42 pm
content: QuoteIndeed. Hopefully the bit about honeybees using electric fields to "communicate with the hive" was his own invention!

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2018, 02:49:23 pm
content: Quote from: Gyro on July 07, 2018, 02:37:42 pmOpen your mindHoneybees can move each other with electric fieldsYou should also look up how over-excited scout bees returning to the hiveget head-buttedby bees in the hive to shut them up so that other scouts can share their information. Eventually, the hive makes a collective, democratic decision as to which new location to move to.And then there are the undertaker bees:Quote from:https://www.beverlybees.com/bring-out-yer-dead-the-undertaker-bees/

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2018, 02:59:08 pm
content: The link didn't work but I found it...https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2013/03/26/honeybees-can-move-each-other-with-electric-fields/You learn something new every day! Thanks.

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2018, 03:00:11 pm
content: Thanks - I pasted the title instead of the linkI've corrected it and added a bit more amazing stuff, too.

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2018, 03:32:43 pm
content: Please explain how a spider is going to generate an electric field of 6kv/m over a distance of several km.You can nail a dog to the ceiling, but that does not mean it can walk over the ceiling like a Gecko.

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2018, 05:57:55 pm
content: Quote from: Doctorandus_P on July 07, 2018, 03:32:43 pmThe article doesn't say that. It says:Quote

author: ChunkyPastaSauce
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 07, 2018, 06:02:09 pm
content: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30693-6

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2018, 06:30:00 pm
content: So that's why even on windless days i get spiderwebs flying at and sticking to my face

author: Vtile
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2018, 05:38:35 pm
content: Interesting. Makes sense.

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2018, 06:46:42 pm
content: "Biologists from the University of Bristol (yay! I went there) believe the answer lies in the Atmospheric Potential Gradient (APG), a global electric circuit that is always present in the atmosphere."That's total mumbo-jumbo. Not the potential gradient, but the reference to a "circuit".

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2018, 02:47:58 am
content: Quote from: Benta on July 09, 2018, 06:46:42 pmHow do you suppose that electrostatic gradient is formed and maintained?