3 ms·
The High-Flying Physics of a Plant’s Exploding Fruits
- analog31 9y agoSomewhat common in the eastern US is Wisteria, which also has an exploding seed pod.
- gshubert17 9y agoDwarf mistletoe, a parasite on various pine trees, use hydrostatic pressure to expel seeds at speeds up to 60 mph. (Years ago I worked on computer models of forest growth, health, and diseases—one of which is mistletoe.) http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/lessons/miscellaneous/Pages/Dwarfmistletoes.aspx http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/lessons/miscellaneous...
- bbvnvlt 9y agoReminds me of my favorite title for a scientific (engineering) paper ever: Shooting Mechanisms in Nature: A Systematic Review http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0158277 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.... (disclosure: I work in the same department as the authors, although not at all involved in this work)