5 ms·

Spiders Can Fly Hundreds of Miles Using Electricity

78 points by ilamont 6y ago

ipsocannibal 6y ago
This is just flat out amazing. Does any other organism fly using electrostatic propulsion?
Iwan-Zotow 6y ago
I would welcome our Arachnid overlords. People in 2020 were a huge disappointment
adenozine 6y ago
This is still my least favorite headline of all time. Ugh.
- 0_____0 6y ago
  I think it's okay for people to have a little fun with headlines, especially when the subject is legitimately fascinating, and not a clickbait nothingburger.
  - Izkata 6y ago
    GP probably is thinking more along the lines of "please don't give me more reasons not to like/to be afraid of spiders". Which was exactly the thought I had when I first learned this a few years ago.
transfire 6y ago
Sounds like Spiderman will be getting a new power!
- thomasqbrady 6y ago
  My thoughts exactly. Also, I guess “web surfing” has a new meaning. They’re literally surfing invisible magnetic waves with web surfboards!
agumonkey 6y ago
1 min video from a lab https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrS0igctMi0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrS0igctMi0
JKCalhoun 6y ago
Wild. Fascinating how the physical universe takes on a whole new persona at different scales. Like the incredible strength of the surface tension of water ... if you're a small insect.
- nkingsy 6y ago
  Seems like we are on the verge of this becoming relevant for robotics. Things could get pretty weird when we have small enough drones that they can take advantage of the physics of tinyness.
  - hhs 6y ago
    > Things could get pretty weird when we have small enough drones that they can take advantage of the physics of tinyness. If interested, Michael Crichton wrote a cautionary story called “Prey”, based on the idea of nanobots and swarm intelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prey_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prey_(novel)
hobofan 6y ago
[2018]
Exmoor 6y ago
After Krakatoa erupted in 1883, the first living thing found on the island was a spider, which almost certainly sailed over the ocean using this method. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa#Botanical_studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa#Botanical_studies https://milliontrees.me/2014/05/26/krakatoa-a-case-study-of-species-dispersal/ https://milliontrees.me/2014/05/26/krakatoa-a-case-study-of-...
reaperducer 6y ago
People who live in the skyscrapers along Chicago's lakefront know that spiders can also fly with parachutes spun from their own silk. Every spring there is an invasion of spiders that sail through the air across the lake from Michigan to hunt bugs in the prairies of Illinois. Many of them rest (voluntarily or involuntarily) on the skyscraper windows.
- Axsuul 6y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZNzgkQMn28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZNzgkQMn28
- lliamander 6y ago
  Sounds like there are some advantages to having the spiders there too, but I wonder if strong enough magnets could repel the spiders or direct them around a building to keep them from landing?
jgwil2 6y ago
From 2018
jcun4128 6y ago
That's crazy how does the spider know how to do this. One of those things like how it knows how to weave a web that looks relatively symmetrical. edit: regarding making some form of AI seems you need understanding like "if electric field, deploy web, fly" sort of thing. inference?
- Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago
  Then you will love this link - https://www.learning-mind.com/spiders-on-drugs/ https://www.learning-mind.com/spiders-on-drugs/
NiceWayToDoIT 6y ago
In certain period of the year, my home town is covered with silk, I was always wondering how is possible that spiders cover so large distances, now I have answer. Thank you.
mamcx 6y ago
Wait wait wait! So this is actually possible? https://youtu.be/sfM7_JLk-84?t=120 https://youtu.be/sfM7_JLk-84?t=120
BlueTemplar 6y ago
> Even on sunny days with cloudless skies, the air carries a voltage of around 100 volts for every meter above the ground. Wait, what !?
- Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago
  Got to admit I too thought that claim merited a [citation needed] so I tried some internet googling to try and find something that backed up those numbers and drew a blank. I have never seen a ~100v per vertical metre potential difference in any cables or equipment that I've run. That includes a long SWA cable from a buildings' floor level to the roof-top end point (roughly 40 metres - so that would equal 40x 100v = 4kV). [Edit to add - Longest vertical cable run I have dealt with was 180m / 41 floors for a four-core fire rated comms cable] [Double Edit, Sorry.] The only source I was able to find was this "Or, if we suspend a metal object outdoors, we’ll find that it spontaneously charges up to a certain voltage: about +100VDC for every meter of altitude above the ground." from https://www.quora.com/Can-electric-current-charge-flow-through-air https://www.quora.com/Can-electric-current-charge-flow-throu...?
  - mncharity 6y ago
    > googling [...] drew a blank Global atmospheric electric circuit; atmospheric electric field (or potential gradient); Carnegie curve; electric field mill sensor. > those numbers It varies a lot. Time of day, location, conditions. Perhaps usually more than -100 V/m, and less than 200 V/m or so? Nothing compared to the 10 kV of zapping doorknobs in winter. > never seen [in...] buildings' The e-field contours follow the outside of a building, rather than cutting through it. And of a person. And more inconveniently, sometimes of a sensor pole. It's long seemed to me a pity this isn't used more in intro physics E&M. Been known for one or two+ centuries. Maybe with drone-sized less-expensive e-field sensors it will get more visibility?
    - Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago
      Have an upvote for the rabbit hole although I still don't see any solid evidence backing up the 100v per metre claim unless scaled to ground vs. a theoretical probe placed 5+ kilometres up in the clouds.
munawwar 6y ago
please put 2018 into the title
danfo 6y ago
Ah yes, I think this mechanism could have led to a real 'Australia' moment for me this year, while I was working outside back during iso. Nothing but open blue skies above me, and a large spider flew in and landed right next to my hands/laptop. Suffice to say I didn't hang around long enough to take note of the species... That was enough fresh air for the day!
moneytide1 6y ago
"Every day, around 40,000 thunderstorms crackle around the world, collectively turning Earth’s atmosphere into a giant electrical circuit. The upper reaches of the atmosphere have a positive charge, and the planet’s surface has a negative one. Even on sunny days with cloudless skies, the air carries a voltage of around 100 volts for every meter above the ground. In foggy or stormy conditions, that gradient might increase to tens of thousands of volts per meter. Ballooning spiders operate within this planetary electric field."

78 points by ilamont 6y ago

ipsocannibal 6y ago

This is just flat out amazing. Does any other organism fly using electrostatic propulsion?

Iwan-Zotow 6y ago

I would welcome our Arachnid overlords. People in 2020 were a huge disappointment

adenozine 6y ago

This is still my least favorite headline of all time. Ugh.

0_____0 6y ago
I think it's okay for people to have a little fun with headlines, especially when the subject is legitimately fascinating, and not a clickbait nothingburger.
- Izkata 6y ago
  GP probably is thinking more along the lines of "please don't give me more reasons not to like/to be afraid of spiders". Which was exactly the thought I had when I first learned this a few years ago.

transfire 6y ago

Sounds like Spiderman will be getting a new power!

thomasqbrady 6y ago
My thoughts exactly. Also, I guess “web surfing” has a new meaning. They’re literally surfing invisible magnetic waves with web surfboards!

agumonkey 6y ago

1 min video from a lab https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrS0igctMi0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrS0igctMi0

JKCalhoun 6y ago

Wild. Fascinating how the physical universe takes on a whole new persona at different scales. Like the incredible strength of the surface tension of water ... if you're a small insect.

nkingsy 6y ago
Seems like we are on the verge of this becoming relevant for robotics. Things could get pretty weird when we have small enough drones that they can take advantage of the physics of tinyness.
- hhs 6y ago
  > Things could get pretty weird when we have small enough drones that they can take advantage of the physics of tinyness. If interested, Michael Crichton wrote a cautionary story called “Prey”, based on the idea of nanobots and swarm intelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prey_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prey_(novel)

hobofan 6y ago

[2018]

Exmoor 6y ago

After Krakatoa erupted in 1883, the first living thing found on the island was a spider, which almost certainly sailed over the ocean using this method. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa#Botanical_studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa#Botanical_studies https://milliontrees.me/2014/05/26/krakatoa-a-case-study-of-species-dispersal/ https://milliontrees.me/2014/05/26/krakatoa-a-case-study-of-...

reaperducer 6y ago

People who live in the skyscrapers along Chicago's lakefront know that spiders can also fly with parachutes spun from their own silk. Every spring there is an invasion of spiders that sail through the air across the lake from Michigan to hunt bugs in the prairies of Illinois. Many of them rest (voluntarily or involuntarily) on the skyscraper windows.

Axsuul 6y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZNzgkQMn28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZNzgkQMn28
lliamander 6y ago
Sounds like there are some advantages to having the spiders there too, but I wonder if strong enough magnets could repel the spiders or direct them around a building to keep them from landing?

jgwil2 6y ago

From 2018

jcun4128 6y ago

That's crazy how does the spider know how to do this. One of those things like how it knows how to weave a web that looks relatively symmetrical. edit: regarding making some form of AI seems you need understanding like "if electric field, deploy web, fly" sort of thing. inference?

Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago
Then you will love this link - https://www.learning-mind.com/spiders-on-drugs/ https://www.learning-mind.com/spiders-on-drugs/

NiceWayToDoIT 6y ago

In certain period of the year, my home town is covered with silk, I was always wondering how is possible that spiders cover so large distances, now I have answer. Thank you.

mamcx 6y ago

Wait wait wait! So this is actually possible? https://youtu.be/sfM7_JLk-84?t=120 https://youtu.be/sfM7_JLk-84?t=120

BlueTemplar 6y ago

> Even on sunny days with cloudless skies, the air carries a voltage of around 100 volts for every meter above the ground. Wait, what !?

Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago
Got to admit I too thought that claim merited a [citation needed] so I tried some internet googling to try and find something that backed up those numbers and drew a blank. I have never seen a ~100v per vertical metre potential difference in any cables or equipment that I've run. That includes a long SWA cable from a buildings' floor level to the roof-top end point (roughly 40 metres - so that would equal 40x 100v = 4kV). [Edit to add - Longest vertical cable run I have dealt with was 180m / 41 floors for a four-core fire rated comms cable] [Double Edit, Sorry.] The only source I was able to find was this "Or, if we suspend a metal object outdoors, we’ll find that it spontaneously charges up to a certain voltage: about +100VDC for every meter of altitude above the ground." from https://www.quora.com/Can-electric-current-charge-flow-through-air https://www.quora.com/Can-electric-current-charge-flow-throu...?
- mncharity 6y ago
  > googling [...] drew a blank Global atmospheric electric circuit; atmospheric electric field (or potential gradient); Carnegie curve; electric field mill sensor. > those numbers It varies a lot. Time of day, location, conditions. Perhaps usually more than -100 V/m, and less than 200 V/m or so? Nothing compared to the 10 kV of zapping doorknobs in winter. > never seen [in...] buildings' The e-field contours follow the outside of a building, rather than cutting through it. And of a person. And more inconveniently, sometimes of a sensor pole. It's long seemed to me a pity this isn't used more in intro physics E&M. Been known for one or two+ centuries. Maybe with drone-sized less-expensive e-field sensors it will get more visibility?
  - Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago
    Have an upvote for the rabbit hole although I still don't see any solid evidence backing up the 100v per metre claim unless scaled to ground vs. a theoretical probe placed 5+ kilometres up in the clouds.

munawwar 6y ago

please put 2018 into the title

danfo 6y ago

Ah yes, I think this mechanism could have led to a real 'Australia' moment for me this year, while I was working outside back during iso. Nothing but open blue skies above me, and a large spider flew in and landed right next to my hands/laptop. Suffice to say I didn't hang around long enough to take note of the species... That was enough fresh air for the day!

moneytide1 6y ago

"Every day, around 40,000 thunderstorms crackle around the world, collectively turning Earth’s atmosphere into a giant electrical circuit. The upper reaches of the atmosphere have a positive charge, and the planet’s surface has a negative one. Even on sunny days with cloudless skies, the air carries a voltage of around 100 volts for every meter above the ground. In foggy or stormy conditions, that gradient might increase to tens of thousands of volts per meter. Ballooning spiders operate within this planetary electric field."