How Do Some Spiders Walk on Water?
Some spiders seem to “gallop” across the surface of water.
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Transcript
NARRATOR: Spiders can move much faster across water. A clue to how they do it comes from the way they leap in response to an environmental stimulus.
EXPERT: Spiders, when they jump from the water surface, are still using the resistance of the water to get their propulsion off the water surface. But they push their legs down so fast and so hard that the dimple that forms when an animal is rowing is gone. So when they push down like that, it's no longer a dimple. It's still bound by air because the leg can't get wet.
But it pushes down so hard that the resistance comes just from the drag of the water against the skinny little leg tip that's getting pushed down. As you could see, they can still get quite high. Maybe 4 centimeters or so above the water surface. And can be up there for a third of a second or so. Sitting still, jumps, comes back and hits the water service, and then gallops away.
Galloping away is doing the same thing in terms of the biomechanics of it as jumping is. Galloping and jumping are still pushing their leg down through the water, getting their thrust that way. And what you're about to see is a jump. And as she's going, she's just galloping off. And what's really good about that, I think, this particular shot, is you get to see how much of the time she's off the water surface.
So now off, hits, off, hits again. So it's galloping just the way a horse does. Touching the ground part of the time, airborne part of the time. And because it's airborne part of the time, during that time it's not slowing down, or not appreciably. So now it slows down, but gets its propulsion and is now, while it's airborne, still getting quite a high rate of speed. So a galloping spider can go much faster than a rowing spider.
EXPERT: Spiders, when they jump from the water surface, are still using the resistance of the water to get their propulsion off the water surface. But they push their legs down so fast and so hard that the dimple that forms when an animal is rowing is gone. So when they push down like that, it's no longer a dimple. It's still bound by air because the leg can't get wet.
But it pushes down so hard that the resistance comes just from the drag of the water against the skinny little leg tip that's getting pushed down. As you could see, they can still get quite high. Maybe 4 centimeters or so above the water surface. And can be up there for a third of a second or so. Sitting still, jumps, comes back and hits the water service, and then gallops away.
Galloping away is doing the same thing in terms of the biomechanics of it as jumping is. Galloping and jumping are still pushing their leg down through the water, getting their thrust that way. And what you're about to see is a jump. And as she's going, she's just galloping off. And what's really good about that, I think, this particular shot, is you get to see how much of the time she's off the water surface.
So now off, hits, off, hits again. So it's galloping just the way a horse does. Touching the ground part of the time, airborne part of the time. And because it's airborne part of the time, during that time it's not slowing down, or not appreciably. So now it slows down, but gets its propulsion and is now, while it's airborne, still getting quite a high rate of speed. So a galloping spider can go much faster than a rowing spider.
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