Eli5 how can insects survive a slap from humans, a creature that’s gigantic compared to them
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The amount of force is distributed across the area of your hand. If the insect is small enough, there’s not a lot of force being applied to the area they occupy.
It’s the same idea that makes sharp objects able to cut things. You’re only applying a low amount of force but it’s focused into a tiny point, so it will rip through things very easily.
Bugs & insects also have an exoskeleton instead of a normal skeleton. So the force you apply is acting on the most rigid structure. If you hit a fleshy animal, you might not break a bone but you can cause other damage. If you hit a bug, you’ve gotta break that exoskeleton for it to really do anything. A small amount of force that is focused into its small area will probably do the job but if you’re wasting energy hitting a large surface area you will need a lot more force.
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