Swarming Bees May Potentially Change the Weather 36
fahrbot-bot shares a report from Live Science: Swarming bees produce so much electricity that they may affect local weather, new research suggests. The finding, which researchers made by measuring the electrical fields around honeybee (apis mellifera) hives, reveals that bees can produce as much atmospheric electricity as a thunderstorm. This can play an important role in steering dust to shape unpredictable weather patterns; and their impact may even need to be included in future climate models.
Insects' tiny bodies can pick up positive charge while they forage -- either from the friction of air molecules against their rapidly beating wings (honeybees can flap their wings more than 230 times a second) or from landing onto electrically charged surfaces. But the effects of these tiny charges were previously assumed to be on a small scale. Now, a new study, published Oct. 24 in the journal iScience, shows that insects can generate a shocking amount of electricity.
To test whether honeybees produce sizable changes in the electric field of our atmosphere, the researchers placed an electric field monitor and a camera near the site of several honeybee colonies. In the 3 minutes that the insects flooded into the air, the researchers found that the potential gradient above the hives increased to 100 volts per meter. In other swarming events, the scientists measured the effect as high as 1,000 volts per meter, making the charge density of a large honeybee swarm roughly six times greater than electrified dust storms and eight times greater than a stormcloud. The scientists also found that denser insect clouds meant bigger electrical fields -- an observation that enabled them to model other swarming insects such as locusts and butterflies.
Insects' tiny bodies can pick up positive charge while they forage -- either from the friction of air molecules against their rapidly beating wings (honeybees can flap their wings more than 230 times a second) or from landing onto electrically charged surfaces. But the effects of these tiny charges were previously assumed to be on a small scale. Now, a new study, published Oct. 24 in the journal iScience, shows that insects can generate a shocking amount of electricity.
To test whether honeybees produce sizable changes in the electric field of our atmosphere, the researchers placed an electric field monitor and a camera near the site of several honeybee colonies. In the 3 minutes that the insects flooded into the air, the researchers found that the potential gradient above the hives increased to 100 volts per meter. In other swarming events, the scientists measured the effect as high as 1,000 volts per meter, making the charge density of a large honeybee swarm roughly six times greater than electrified dust storms and eight times greater than a stormcloud. The scientists also found that denser insect clouds meant bigger electrical fields -- an observation that enabled them to model other swarming insects such as locusts and butterflies.
puntastic (Score:5, Funny)
insects can generate a shocking amount of electricity
Right, that's it. I quit.
... must ... resist ...urge to ....pun
Shit. It's no use.
So this is the calm bee-fore the storm?
Source of local area power sabotage identified. Thousands of bees charged.
Sorry. I am so sorry.
Re: PATHETIC, SlashDEAD, PATHETIC! Fake & gay! (Score:2)
You ACs just drone on and on.
Always getting in a flap.
Bee hive yourselves or you will bee sent to the hive in the corner.
Go back to Roblox.
"Honey, I just trolled the kids!"
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ig nobel.
i believe we have a new entry
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is that electricity also how they are able to fly (Score:2)
since their bodies are too heavy for they wings to actually generate enough lift on their own?
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Misleading numbers (Score:5, Insightful)
the potential gradient above the hives increased to 100 volts per meter. In other swarming events, the scientists measured the effect as high as 1,000 volts per meter
The local capacitance in the air is so low that this voltage measurement is meaningless. It will end up rounding to 0 joules. Compare to a thunderstorm, where the water in the cloud provides extensive capacitance, so there is a actually a lot of energy involved.
. But the effects of these tiny charges were previously assumed to be on a small scale.
This is misleading, because it implies that the research shows that the effects are on a large scale. But that is not true; the effects are still on such a small scale that they remain entirely theoretical. The measured a voltage difference somewhere, but the presumed effects of that are either nothing, or in the "we're barely able to measure it" ballpark.
We only recently discovered that biology and static electric fields are intimately linked
Yeah, who the [bleep] is "we" here?
They blather on about static electricity and doorknobs, but the human body has a higher capacitance than the air around you (or else you wouldn't be able to collect a charge in the first place!) and the doorknob has an even higher capacitance. The example is accidentally self-refuting, as it is only the low capacitance of the air that makes possible the experienced effect of static electricity. The maximum possible charge in the local air around the beehive is... tiny.
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>> We only recently discovered that biology and static electric fields are intimately linked
> Yeah, who the [bleep] is "we" here?
Lots of us. This book is an oldie but goodie:
https://www.amazon.com/Body-El... [amazon.com]
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That's a nutty book, but that aside, it is nearly 25 years old. That isn't very recent...
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I love how all these arm chair theoretical scientists love to shoot down anything they don't understand.
Translation: I'm so much smarter than the scientists. They couldn't have taken any of this into consideration.
Are you sure you aren't confusing the "capacitance" in the air wi
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Wish I had points to mod this up. I'm an electromagnetic interference technician; we routinely generate fields of 200 V/m in our chambers using a transmitting antenna, and measure the field a meter away using a field probe. The air in between definitely is *not* attenuating the signal!
And I'm an engineer too, but I notice you failed to comprehend my words.
You may or may not be what you say; but you can't argue with shit you only glanced at.
Obligatory (Score:2)
Credit where its due (Score:2)
"A butterfly flaps its wings in Beijing, and weather in New York is different."
Ian Malcom, Jurassic Park
And I always thought it was the butterflies! (Score:4, Interesting)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Hmm ... airplanes? (Score:2)
Swarming Bees May Potentially Change the Weather ... ...
Insects' tiny bodies can pick up positive charge
from the friction of air molecules against their rapidly beating wings (honeybees can flap their wings more than 230 times a second) or from landing onto electrically charged surfaces
What about airplanes? Do airports change their local weather?
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Oww! (Score:2)
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Damn.
Both of them ? (Score:2)
I saw a couple of bees last week. I'm sure I saw some last July too. For well over ten years now, I've been reading about bees (and many other insects) disappearing. So, how many bees does it take to change the weather ?
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Never mind the weather, surely you should be asking how many bees does it take to change a light bulb?
Or, given the subject, how many bees does it take to light a light bulb?
Beeachu? (Score:2)
Sounds like Gamefreak has a concept for their next electric bug type Pokémon.
Solution (Score:1)
1. Inform the bees that they will be taxed if they don't stop global warming.
2. Say to them, "How dare you!"
Shocking news..... argh (Score:2)
Change the weather? (Score:5, Funny)
One of them in the living-room can transform my wife into a shrieking tornado.
renewable energy (Score:2)
Working on my hive-based roof solar panels. They're solar because bees only come out during the day.