3 ms·
> Plants are usually charged negatively and emit weak electric fields. On their side, bees acquire a positive charge as they fly through the air. ... > How t
by jpdoctor 14y ago
> Plants are usually charged negatively and emit weak electric fields. On their side, bees acquire a positive charge as they fly through the air. ...
> How then do bees detect electric fields?
Why is the answer not as simple as: The bees feel an attractive force when they are near the flower?
- pygy_ 14y agoThey have hairs on the whole surface of their abdomen (for bees), and all over their bodies (bumblebees. ). They probably feel the electric field gradient.
- kbutler 14y agoBecause the attractive force is so small. The net force of the electric field plus gravity is likely very similar to just gravity. You may have rubbed a balloon on your hair, generating a static charge. You feel no attractive force toward the balloon, but your hair is pulled toward it, and your nerves can detect the changed angles of the hair.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- codeflo 14y agoBecause the force would be vanishingly small compared to the mass of the bumblebee. That's why the article speculates that bumblebees sense the field acting on their hair, which is actually plausible.
- SagelyGuru 14y agoWhile it is true that hairs can sense small electrostatic forces better, I would not rule out the attractive force on the whole bee, whose mass is quite small. People are not generally aware that electrostatic force is 10^36 times stronger than gravity.