Mosquitoes are impervious to falling raindrops, says study
A new study from Georgia Tech shows how tiny mosquitoes are able to fly in the rain by being absorbed into the drop.
New research shows how mosquitoes can seemlessly fly through even torrential rain.
Despite the fact that a single raindrop can weigh 50 times more than a mosquito, the tiny insects are able to pass through them without harm from the impact.
Researchers at Georgia Tech say that the mosquito gets momentarily trapped in the drop rather than being pushed down by it.
"The drop comes at the speed of a comet, and instead of the mosquito resisting the force applied by the drop, it basically gets adhered to the drop like a stowaway," study leader David Hu, a professor of mechanical engineering and biology at Georgia Tech said to LiveScience.
"By doing this, the mosquito really minimizes the force that gets applied by the drop."
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The reason mosquitoes are able to do this is because of their tiny mass, which makes raindrops lose very little momentum upon impact, reported io9.
The mosquitoes then break free from the droplets using their legs and wings.
The escape from the drop happens in milliseconds.
According to the Daily Mail, the scientists used high-speed photography to record the insects flying through a controlled "arena" which simulated strong rains.
All of the mosquitoes lived and flew easily through the storm.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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