6 ms·
Why did these algae grow like this in the pool?
- mytailorisrich 3y ago> The third hypothesis (contributed) is then that the tapered shape arises from gas-buoyancy-driven detachment and ascent of portions of the algae mat. This is what happens. If you look closely when you see this phenomenon, you'll see that bubbles form and pull the algae mat upwards.
- civilitty 3y agoThey also use gas vesicles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_vesicle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_vesicle Lots of photosynthetic species have similar adaptations like the bulbs you see on kelp on the beach: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatocyst https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatocyst
- kuhewa 3y agoCyanobacteria use gas vesicles, this looks like green algea (chlorophyta) which AFAIK do not have them.
- pyinstallwoes 3y agoOddly reminds me of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_spike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_spike
- pyinstallwoes 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daubechies_wavelet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daubechies_wavelet
- pyinstallwoes 3y agoAlso: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessel_function https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessel_function
- dvh 3y agoCould it be a stalks of higher plants?
- hilbert42 3y agoWhether correct or not, they're brilliant answers! :-)
- mellosouls 3y agoThe intelligence on display in the physics and particularly the maths stackexchanges is quite humbling at times.
- n3storm 3y agothen somebody with K followers says something randomly paranoid and stupid about "X" and has people kneeling cause dared to speak "the truth"
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- NotYourLawyer 3y agoAs usual, half the responses miss the forest for the trees. Arguing about why it’s not actually 1/(x^2 + y^2) is the worst kind of pedantry.
- pests 3y agoI thought the same thing. Half the answers were about calculating the perfect mathematical shape completely unaswering anything about the origin of the phenomenon. The shape wasn't even in the original question at all but only included as an example (how would he even measure it?)
- raziel2701 3y agoI wonder about this so much, why does this particular set of people obsess/fixate on this unimportant part of the question?? I see it happen over and over.
- freetime2 3y agoI think it's just the "Law of Triviality" [1]. They probably don't know enough about algae to answer the question, so they focus on the parts that they do understand. I don't think it's unique to "this particular set of people" - I see this over and over again with people from all walks of life. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality
- rendaw 3y agoI think part of the issue is that this was posted in the physics stack exchange... with the biology tag, rather than the biology stack exchange.
- freetime2 3y agoIt doesn't seem that bad to me. The original post asks why it resembles the graph of a particular formula. If there's a formula that better describes it, I feel like that's worth noting. And a more accurate description could yield clues into the underlying physics, or be used to exclude certain hypotheses. It’s also a “just for fun” type question (although I suppose the answer could yield deep insight into the nature of our universe, you never know). If anyone happens to learn anything new while reading, even if it doesn’t answer the original question, then that’s a positive outcome in my opinion.
- aaron695 3y ago[dead]
- RecycledEle 3y agoIs it possible there is a water fountain under there, and that algae grows where the water is pushed up? Could that algae channel the water up a little higher, until we see a peak?