why do bugs like mosquitoes not die when we hit them while they’re flying?
In: 3
If its a small enough insect then the air from your hand swinging at them gives them a speed boost so the relative speed when your hand actually makes contact with them isn’t always enough to kill them. Heck half the time the crazy wind currents are enough that you don’t even end up making contact with them.
In addition without a solid surface to squeeze them against, they can transform that energy you transfer to them into acceleration. If a car driving in front of you is going 60 mph and you hit it at 70mph it’s not going to do that much damage, especially if the driver in front doesn’t hit the brakes to stop it. Instead you’re just giving it a really aggressive push.
It might do some damage but insects have a hard exoskeleton so they can take a bit of a rough push without causing too much damage.
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