A fly on the ceiling how does it stay up there. Research work on the topic "why the fly does not fall from the ceiling." Why doesn't a fly fall from the ceiling

The special structure of the paws, namely, several “devices” donated by nature, helps the flies to stay and move on various surfaces upside down.

The structure of the foot

The fly's foot ends in two claws and the finest hairs, as well as glands that secrete a sticky substance.

At first, scientists believed that the fly, thanks to its tiny claws and hairs, held on to the smallest bumps or bulges, invisible to the human eye, on any surface. But with the development of science and microscopes, it turned out that special glands on the paws, similar to pads, help insects overcome the force of gravity. At one time, these pads were even considered suckers.

Over time, it turned out that these were not suckers, but glands. A thousandfold magnification helped to see that they secrete a special sticky liquid in which fats and various sugars are mixed. It is this substance that gives the flies the ability to literally stick to any surface, including the ceiling, and not fall. Research activities in this area are Stanislav Gorb(Stanislav Gorb) from the German Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology (Max-Planck-Institut für Entwicklungsbiologie) as part of the Biological Attachment Devices for Biomimetics project.

The fly rubs its paw against its paw to clean its pads of adhering particles of dust and dirt. Otherwise, she will not be able to hold on, since her pads with glands that secrete a sticky liquid will be clogged with adhering "garbage".

How does a fly come off?

Everyone knows how hard it is to catch a fly off guard. Slightly swing - it instantly takes off. With a jerk, strictly vertically, it will be very difficult for her to peel off the paw, therefore nature arranged it so that the pad with glands lags behind the surface gradually, small areas. You can compare this to tearing off tape: if you pull the tape straight up along its entire length, it is almost impossible to tear it off, but gradually peeling off the tape from the surface is much easier. This is what happens with flies.

In addition, two claws at the ends of the legs help the insect peel off the pad after sticking to the surface.

They penetrate everywhere and cause some discomfort to people. Natural dexterity, allowing you to see 360 ​​degrees, and many other features, allow the insect to save its life and instantly respond to danger. The question of how a fly sits on the ceiling excites not only children, but also adults. To do this, nature endowed it with some features.

What surface can it sit on

The fly easily clings to any surface. It can be horizontal, vertical, sheer. It does not slip even from glass and other smooth surfaces. If we consider the option of how the fly keeps on the ceiling with wallpaper or other finishes, we can assume that the coating is not ideal.

For the small paws of an insect, any, even a very small tubercle, becomes an excellent way to gain a foothold. But after all, it will not even slide off the same surface, but made of perfectly even glass.

Why doesn't a fly fall from the ceiling


Revealing this secret is very simple if you look at the structure of her paws through a microscope. A zoomed view will show the following features:

  • The presence of 2 claws. It is they that allow her to grab onto microscopic ledges and hold on for a long time.
  • Suckers. They are located at the base of the claws. The suction cup is made in the form of a small pillow. On its outer side, the pads are overgrown with ordinary hairs, on the other hand, there are very small disc-shaped suckers on the hairs.
  • Sticky substance. At the end of the front legs, a special substance is released during landing. It is sticky and oily. It is this that allows the individual to hang above the ground and not fall. The sticky mixture is released exactly in such an amount that it is enough to hold the individual, but not to impede its movement.

Interesting!

An interesting experiment was carried out by researchers. They put insects on special filter paper, which quickly and effectively absorbs any fat. As a result, the substance secreted by the flies was quickly absorbed, and the flies could not gain a foothold.

Soft landing: detailed analysis

To give a better idea of ​​how the landing occurs and why the fall does not occur, it will be possible to consider the behavior of the individual at the time of landing. During the flight, it easily performs various complex pirouettes, which allow it to be securely attached to any materials.

Interesting!

The insect takes off not forward, as many others gather, but backward. Therefore, to kill him, you should aim a little behind.

The fly sits on the ceiling from a loop or from a coup. As a result, it transfers the center of gravity to the front and sticks to the ceiling with its paws. The rest of the body catches up with the front and presses the fly even tighter.

What did macro photography show?

An amazing discovery was made by macro photography of observation of the behavior of a fly. An insect does not push off the ceiling to take off. It just relaxes, releases the surface and falls down. Then the fly rapidly turns upside down, spreads its wings and already.

Flies absolutely do not care what to sit on: your monitor glowing in the night, an innocent nose or a ceiling from which it will not climb for a long time and stubbornly. Have you ever wondered, how does a fly stay on the ceiling? Of course, it is difficult to attribute it to serious, but curiosity is not a vice. In contrast to the excessive importunity of these insects scurrying around.

For a long time there was an opinion that numerous hairs on the paws help them to stay. Various irregularities on the ceiling allegedly helped these insects to cling to them with hairs and calmly look at everything that happens from below with truly universal calmness. One could believe it: after all, flawlessly smooth ceiling surfaces appeared only centuries later (read about the most popular modern ceilings for kitchen).

However, with the development of research instruments and, in particular, microscopes, the theory that was walking among the inhabitants was smashed to smithereens by the very first in-depth studies of the essence of an unusual issue.

It turns out that on the paws of flies there are special glands that intensively secrete a sticky substance. The pads that the flies cling to produce exactly as much glue as the insect needs in order to delight numerous spectators with their presence on the ceiling. Add here its almost miserable weight - and in your mind, like a puzzle, an exhaustive answer to the question of how a fly keeps on the ceiling and is practically not afraid of anything will be formed.

how a fly keeps its little paws on the ceiling and got the best answer

Answer from Margosh Milyutin[guru]
Crawling on the ceiling, the fly relies on myriads of fine hairs, which, due to the forces of friction and attraction (identical to "gecko" or "spider"), are held among the roughness of the coating. On a perfectly smooth surface, only sticking is used.
All of these hairs grow from a thin and highly flexible spatula that maximizes the area of ​​contact while adapting to the surface.
One of important points in hypothetical devices of this kind, there is a sticking strategy: what to do when you need to not only hang upside down, but also move on?
The answer to this important question was found by Gorb associates. They watched hundreds of flies take off in slow motion video playback. And it turned out that the fly has not one strategy for this, but as many as four.
By moving the legs further away from the body, the fly causes the flexible shoulder blades to wave, bend, which reduces their contact with the surface and leads to the release of the legs.
The second option is to rotate the leg around an axis perpendicular to the surface, twisting the same sticky "devices".
The third is the use of small claws at the end of the legs for violent separation of the shoulder blades.
The fourth is simply the brute force of the wing thrust, tearing the insect entirely off the ceiling or wall.

Answer from attacker[guru]
Microbristle for microcracks!! !
There are no suckers there, suckers are the lot of molluscs !! !
And not only on the ceiling, but also on the glass!! !
Good luck!!!


Answer from Fox[guru]
She probably has suction cups on her paws. By the way, there are frogs...


Answer from BEAUTIFUL RUSSIA I!!!®[guru]
Little suckers on paws... Biology teach...


Answer from User deleted[active]
It seems to me that there is definitely some kind of heaped law of gravity at work here


Answer from User deleted[guru]
They are sticky for her. We do not notice, but the fly is enough.


Answer from User deleted[guru]
Une instead of saliva - superglue. You licked your paws and you'll drive the hell out. hee hee


Answer from Jaisa[guru]
She has suction cups on her paws


Answer from Bashkirova Svetlana[guru]
Sometimes with great pleasure...


Answer from Ўliya Mukhamedshina[newbie]
thanks to claws and pads at the end of the paws))


Answer from 3 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: how does a fly keep its little paws on the ceiling

Kostenkova Anna

As a result of the experiments and studies carried out in the research work, the author concludes why m ear does not fall from the ceiling and vertical surfaces. The work contains many interesting material about flies, their varieties, structure, harm and benefit to the environment.

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Research

on the topic

"Why doesn't a fly fall from the ceiling?"

Prepared

2nd grade student

MBOU "Secondary School No. 3, Shebekino, Belgorod Region"

Kostenkova Anna.

Supervisor

primary school teacher

Rubanova Oksana Viktorovna

Introduction

Research topic: "Why doesn't the fly fall from the ceiling?"

Research problem:

Those are stupid people! We don't even know

What is the use of a fly?

After all, flies do not only sit on jam.

They produce fertilizer for us.

The fly can also bring healing.

For birds, the fly is a delicious treat.

But here's what I don't understand about flies:

How do flies stay on the ceiling?

Problem! Decided to reveal this secret

Explore what I don't know about.

Based on the problem raised, it was determinedpurpose of the study:

LEARN WHY THE FLY DOES NOT FALL FROM THE CEILING.

Objectives of our research:

  • Get to know the structure of the fly;
  • Observe her behavior;
  • To study the experience of scientists on this topic;
  • Find out what types of flies exist in nature;

Having determined the topic, problem, goals and objectives of the study, we began to put forward hypotheses. To do this, we conducted a survey among students elementary school, listened to the opinion of adults, studied the materials of encyclopedias and scientific publications. Thus, we have put forward the following HYPOTHESES:

  • Let us suppose that the fly does not fall from the ceiling because its wings help it to do so.
  • Suppose that a fly does not fall from the ceiling because it has special claws on its paws - hooks.
  • It is possible that the legs of the insect have tiny devices that secrete droplets of a sticky substance that helps it stay on the ceiling.

Initially, we decided to study the structure of the fly in detail, turning to animal encyclopedias for help.

We learned that flies belong to:

TYPE - ARthropod;

CLASS - INSECTS;

TEAM - TWO-winged.

In terms of abundance and diversity, Diptera rank first among insects. About 100 thousand species are known.

The fly consists of:

The head, on which there are large faceted eyes, two antennas are the olfactory organs proboscis- with which she feeds on liquid food.

The chest, on which are located one pair of wings for flight, and another (small) pair of wings for balance (these are halteres).

Abdomen;

Three pairs of paws with claws.

Consider HYPOTHESIS 1 : "Suppose that the fly does not fall from the ceiling because the wings help it to do so."

This hypothesis was NOT confirmed. We have carried out an experiment. We placed the fly in a closed space (under a transparent cup) and watched it for a while. As a result of the experiment, we were convinced that while the fly is sitting on a vertical surface or on the ceiling, its wings are in a stationary state. Therefore, they cannot help her stay on the surface.

Consider HYPOTHESIS 2: “ Let's say that a fly does not fall from the ceiling because it has special claws on its paws - hooks.

We carried out the proof of this hypothesis at the lesson of the extracurricular association "I am a researcher", which I have been attending for 2 years now. We carefully examined the preparation "Fly's foot" with the help of a microscope. We clearly sawthat the paws of the insect end in two claws and many hairs. Apparently, these claws and hairs help them to stay on various surfaces. These claws usually grip bumps on rough surfaces. They serve as fulcrum for tiny claws.

But then we thought about the fact that not all surfaces on which the fly sits are rough. After all, there are many absolutely smooth, glossy surfaces around us. For example, glass, mirror, plastic. It is impossible to cling to such a surface with a hair or a claw. But at the same time, we see that flies sit on such surfaces just as easily as on rough ones.

Thus, we came to the conclusion that 2the hypothesis was NOT confirmed. Apparently it's not about claws - hooks.

We moved on to HYPOTHESIS 3: “It is possible that on the legs of the insect there are tiny devices that secrete droplets of a sticky substance that helps it to stay on the ceiling ".

To prove this hypothesis, we turned to the Internet.

The obvious and the unbelievable surrounds man everywhere. Take, for example, the situation when a fly sits on the ceiling. After all, according to the law of nature, it must fall. Or was the fly sneezing at gravity?
Scientists used to explain this discrepancy by the fact that microscopic villi on the paws help the insect to stay on the walls and ceiling. With them, the fly is able to cling to the slightest bumps.
But it turned out that the scientists were mistaken. The matter is quite different. Bypassing the law of universal gravitation helps the fly sticky "chewing gum" on the paws. A microscope with a thousandfold magnification helped scientists find out the "fly" secret. The fact is that on the paws of the insect there are tiny glandular pads that secrete droplets of a sticky substance from a mixture of sugars and fats.Moreover, this sticky substance is released just enough so that the fly can tear off its paw when walking.
A d va claw, help to tear off the fly's paw after gluing. So for the insect, the problem is not to sit on the ceiling, but to break away or walk on it.

Having become acquainted with this information, we once again turned to the microscope and really saw on the fly's paw not only claws, but also small pads.

Then we decided to conduct an experiment proposed by British scientists.

The fly was first made to crawl on blotting paper soaked in a fat-dissolving agent. And then they put the fly under the glass and we saw that the fly could not stay on the glass."

Thus, we came to the conclusion that 3the hypothesis was confirmed.

Conclusion

As a result of the experiments and studies carried out, it can be concluded that:

The fly does not fall from the ceiling and vertical surfaces becauseon the paws of the insect there are tiny glandular pads that secrete droplets of a sticky substance from a mixture of sugars and fats. Ethat sticky substance is released just enough so that the fly can tear off the foot when walking. A d va claw, help to tear off the fly's paw after gluing.

During our research, we learned a lot of interesting things about flies, including the fact that flies bring many benefits, such as recycling waste, turning it into fertilizer. Or, they are able to produce bacteria that fight other disease-causing bacteria. Well, for birds - a fly is a delicacy.

Therefore, let's not forget that all living beings on this planet are part of a single ecological system of the Earth.

Application.

fly species

The housefly, unlike some other species, does not bite, but its presence in the house is unpleasant in itself. Some types of flies can also bite, such as horseflies. It attacks livestock (eg.horses ), as well as people. The bites of its sharp proboscis are extremely painful. Only female horseflies drink blood. About 3000 species of horseflies are known to science; before mating, males often gather in flocks. Both females and males feed on the nectar of flowers, while pollinating flowering plants.
Insects use all sorts of ways of mimicry - from imitation of inanimate objects to different types masking color. Another popular type of defense is mimicking poisonous and dangerous creatures.

This is what the team members did.scorpion flies- common scorpions. These inhabitants of shady wet parks are greenish in color and have two pairs of transparent wings covered with a dark pattern. The long abdomen of the male scorpion ends with miniature pincer-like appendages, and the last segments of the abdomen itself are swollen, thrown back and painted in a bright, saturated red color. You immediately recognize the "prototype" - a dangerous poisonous "tail"scorpion . Females do not have such good mimicry: the last segments of the abdomen are not swollen, but are also colored red - better bad disguise than none!

Flies of the hoverfly familychose a role model among their relatives - hymenoptera (wasps, bees,bumblebees ). The bright yellow-black color of the wasp screams: “Do not touch, it will be worse, the owner is poisonous!”. And so the birds do not touch them. Hover flies, or sirfid, about 4500 species. Syrphid larvae are unusually diverse. The larva of the common bee-eater lives and feeds at the bottom of reservoirs. She has the last three segments of the abdomen form a long (up to 15 cm!) breathing tube. In the larvae of the darkness, living in the wood of dead trunks, special scrapers have developed from spiracles, with which they scrape hard wood.
The larvae of many sirfids live in colonies of aphids and are their fierce enemies - one adult larva can suck out 200 aphids per day. Hoverfly larvae from the genus Microdon live in anthills and appearance completely unlike the larvae of flies. For a long time they were taken forshellfish . Bumblebee larvae live in bumblebee nests and feed on dead bumblebee larvae and garbage. And adult bumblebees are very similar to bumblebees. Hoverfly flies are able to soar motionless in the air. They can move by sliding in the air currents up, down, back, forward and sideways. Hoverflies can hang in the air for a long time, flying up to flowering plants, whose nectar they feed on, thereby benefiting by pollinating flowers. They have extremely large eyes. In flight, they, as their name suggests, make murmuring sounds.

Another fly chose a hard worker bee to emulate.Ilnitsa-bee-eaterIt is not named so by chance: its larvae develop all summer in the silt of ponds before turning into flies in August, and an adult fly looks like two drops of water like a bee. And not only in color, but also in behavior: also, when landing on a flower and taking off, the legs “drag” behind them, as if weighed down with pollen.

pushers got its name because the males in the period of courting the females in whole flocks hustle in the air. In temperate countries, these dances can be seen throughout the summer. Pusher males bring gifts (usually small flies of another species) to the females, which the females eat during mating. However, males are greedy and often take their gifts from one female in order to give them to another before mating. Some even kill members of their own species in order to present them as a gift to the female. When attacking a prey, they cling to it with their strong bristly paws; in appearance, pushers resemble robber flies, but, unlike them, have a more round head.

carrion flies able to develop onlywet fell before it dried. Therefore, their larvae: develop and grow within just a few days, this is especially noticeable in a hot climate. No wonder it is believed that the offspring of one pair of flies is able to eat a bull faster than a lion can.

Among the flies there are also “honest” predators. flies everyone saw - unattractive and long-bodied, they are painted in brown tones and covered with hairs different lengths like shed. Very often they bask in the hot hours somewhere on the wall, gaining strength before hunting. The ktyrs hunt both small flies and other insects, evenspiders , which are deftly picked up on the fly directly from the web. In early spring you can watch the "weddings" of ktyrs: couples fly, one fly holds on to the back of the other, make circles over the clearing, as if admiring the landscape. Sometimes a more amazing sight falls to be seen: four flies fly at once, grappling with long legs. Just demonstration performances of aerial acrobats!

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Slides captions:

Why doesn't a fly fall from the ceiling? Research work of a student of 2 "B" class MBOU secondary school No. 3 Kostenkova Anna

Research Problem The weather has already turned to heat. A house fly is crawling on the glass. Just woke up from winter sleep new life she starts. We talk about flies without thinking right away, That a fly on its paws spreads an infection. For some reason we don't like flies from birth And how easily we destroy defenseless flies.

Research problem Here are the stupid people! We don't even know what is the use of a fly. After all, flies do not only sit on jam. They produce fertilizer for us. The fly can also bring healing. For birds, the fly is a tasty treat. But here's what I don't understand about flies: How do flies stay on the ceiling? Problem! Decided to open this secret, Explore what I don't know about.

The purpose of the study To find out why the fly does not fall from the ceiling? Research objectives - To get acquainted with the structure of the fly. - Watch her behavior. - Consider the experience of scientists on this topic. - Explore additional material on this topic.

The hypothesis was not confirmed Observation of a fly Wings are motionless Perhaps these are wings? Wings do not help the fly to stay on the surface

And if it's claws - hooks? The hypothesis was not confirmed. It is possible to hold with the help of claws - hooks only on a rough surface, and not on a glossy one.

Maybe it's a sticky substance? Sticky substance: a mixture of sugar and fat

The experience of British scientists Apply a liquid that removes fat Placed the fly in a closed space Moved the fly under a clean cup The fly had difficulty climbing onto a vertical surface

Conclusion 3 hypothesis was confirmed The fly does not fall from the ceiling because there are tiny pads on the legs of the insect - glands that secrete droplets of a sticky substance consisting of a mixture of sugar and fat. And the claws help the fly tear off the paw from the surface after gluing.

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