Why does a flying insect not die when you slap it in mid air ? The slap should have the same impact as being hit by a bus .
In: Physics
Your hand moves the air in front of it while it’s moving, so before they feel your hand, they’re already being pushed fairly hard by the wind you’re generating. This moves them in the same direction and lessens the force of the impact.
They also have very short neural connections and begin reacting in a split second to move away.
They’re also wearing helmets all the time.
Combined, they’re pretty durable against midair swats – although you can definitely injure or kill them this way, particularly larger ones that crumple more easily. Exoskeleton strength doesn’t scale well.
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