The proboscis of a butterfly resembles a straw, as it is long and slender, and is primarily used to sip with. However, Konstantin Kornev from Clemson University states that it works more similarly to a paper towel when sucking up fluids. He plans to adopt this insect’s technique to create small probes, which can extract fluid samples from within cells.
Kornev’s work will be presented at the American Physical Society’s 62nd Annual Meeting of its Division of Fluid Dynamics from 22–24 November at the Minneapolis Convention Centre.
These insects live at a scale so small that fluids is thick enough to form fibres. Their foods, such as water droplets, flower nectars, animal tears, and fruit juices, have a viscosity of almost three orders of magnitude; hence, siphoning these viscous fluids through their proboscis would require great amounts of pressure.
“No pump would support that kind of pressure”, Kornev states. “The liquid would boil spontaneously”.
His findings indicate that rather than pumping, butterflies suck the liquid upwards by means of capillary action; the same type of force that draws liquid through a paper towel. An insect’s proboscis functions like a rolled-up tissue paper, with small channels that draw the liquid upwards and along the edges while moving the drop of liquid along the centre of the tube. Capillary action is not as affected by a liquid’s viscosity as compared to pumping.
Kornev’s work will be presented at the American Physical Society’s 62nd Annual Meeting of its Division of Fluid Dynamics from 22–24 November at the Minneapolis Convention Centre.
These insects live at a scale so small that fluids is thick enough to form fibres. Their foods, such as water droplets, flower nectars, animal tears, and fruit juices, have a viscosity of almost three orders of magnitude; hence, siphoning these viscous fluids through their proboscis would require great amounts of pressure.
“No pump would support that kind of pressure”, Kornev states. “The liquid would boil spontaneously”.
His findings indicate that rather than pumping, butterflies suck the liquid upwards by means of capillary action; the same type of force that draws liquid through a paper towel. An insect’s proboscis functions like a rolled-up tissue paper, with small channels that draw the liquid upwards and along the edges while moving the drop of liquid along the centre of the tube. Capillary action is not as affected by a liquid’s viscosity as compared to pumping.
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