Month: November 2019

Beetles in the Fog

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers.

I can only imagine that it is a curious sight. The first curious image is fog rolling onto and across a desert. A second, desert beetles facing into whatever breeze might be pushing the fog, with their beetle heads down and their beetle rears lifted upward so the fog, water laden, is pushed along its back.

These curious beetles are the Namib Desert Beetle (Stenocara gracilip) which face the breeze from the ocean and expose the wing-cases along their backs to the incoming fog and collect water from the fog that is condensed on its wing cases. Then due to the beetle’s curious posture the water droplets flow downward to the beetle’s mouth.

In the arid Namib desert on the south west coast of Africa, plants and animals must find a means to get water to survive. This is also true of many people around the world. Using methods similar to those of the beetle, devices have been constructed so some people in arid regions can harvest water from the moisture in fog. A project in Morocco has been under development since 2005. The project won a United Nations Climate Change award for the supplying villages with water from new water taps and supply line, and also for alleviating the burden on women who had to spend hours a day in drawing and hauling water from wells to supply their homes. Similar projects have been used in other arid locales that are close to an ocean.

More recently two papers were given at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics in Seattle Washington which took place earlier this month (November 2019). One was on the capability of gathering water characteristics of a single wire in a study related to the collection capabilities of designed projects. The other paper was based on a study conducted by Hunter King, of the University of Akron in Ohio, and colleagues which investigated how the Namib Desert Beetle collects water along its back. The abstracts of these two papers may be found at http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD19/Session/Q25.7 and http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD19/Session/Q30.1, respectively.

For the beetle the study shows how microscopic ridges, bumps and pits along the beetle’s hard wing case allow it to achieve an improved rate of water collection from the fog. The study included the development of 3D printed spheres with manufactured ridges, bumps, and pits of different configuration for testing in a wind tunnel. These test showed that the microscopic texture of the surface influences the behavior of the collected water droplets. In the case of the beetle these differences in the roughness and smoothness of the surface of the hard shell wing-case on the beetle’s back influenced the movement of the water droplets to the beetle’s mouth. The beetle is able to gather and consume water to enhance its survival in the arid desert. And it must be a wondrous sight to see.

It is through the investigation of different technologies that we, the people, will be able to find solutions to alleviate thirst, hunger, and illness around the world.

We, the fortunate few who have the most, should express or thanks always for what we have. We should also seek out ways to help our brothers and sisters who do not have the resources that we so often take for granted.

Art work above is a modification of picture borrowed from http://morawatersystems.com/biomimicry-the-namib-desert-beetle-a-source-of-inspiration/

Other articles include: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3949572/The-fog-catchers-Sahara-make-water-AIR-hundreds-people.html ; https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/09/197525/moroccan-fog-water-harvesting-project-wins-united-nations-award/ ; https://www.wired.com/2012/11/namib-beetle-bottle/ ; https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-20465982

UPDate – The Event – Transit of Mercury 2019

Yesterday, 11 November, 2019, Veterans Day, Mercury made its fourth (2003, 2006, 2016, 2019) transit of the Solar disk in the 21st century. I was glad to be able to view the event on my solar projection device. It’s homemade and has brought me many hours of enjoyment being out in the fields of Virginia trying to catch a glimpse of the solar events of both Mercury and Venus. In the pictures below you will see short pieces of tape with dates written on them. These dates represent my attempts over the last fifteen years to view transits of the two inner planets. In 2004 and then again in 2012 I tried to view the transits of Venus. In 2004 the initial stages of the event were obscured by a heavy fog. However, I was able to capture a glimpse of the event just before its conclusion. Yesterday, I was able to watch a great deal of the transit of Mercury.

My viewing platform is built around a Newtonian telescope that I bought from Sears in 1986 to view the last passing of Halley’s Comet. The platform is two hinged boards. The bottom board is a base for mounting the viewing platform on a hand truck, the upper board holds the telescope and the viewing screen. The viewing screen is mounted over the eye piece of the telescope. The screen is a piece of plastic sheet mounted on a wooden frame. I use a third piece of wood hinged to the upper board that enables me to maintain the proper elevation for the telescope. I also use wood blacks to help in holding the correct elevation, as the projection of the sun and the planet moves quickly across the screen.

The biggest surprise for me was how tiny the planet appeared on my screen. My screen was able to accommodate the disk of the sun. But in that projection Mercury appeared only slightly bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. Due to this as well as the texture of the viewing screen and my questionable skill as a photographer, I was not able to take a picture of the “dot” of Mercury that I can provide in this article. However, I present my pictures of the event and my viewing platform.

I am happy to share the experience and my excitement at seeing that small dot proceed across the disk of the Sun.

My original post leading up to the transit of Mercury was posted on October 30, 2019.

Forest Triptych

There are three main levels in a forest. There is the base or ground level on which you enter the forest. There is the mid-level of the tree trunks and undergrowth of bushes, vines, and immature trees. And upper most there is the canopy of leaves.

At this time of year when I enter the forest, even on a well-trodden path, with every step there is a rustling of leaves beneath my feet. If there is a breeze up, there may be the quiet fall of the last leaves as they leave their summer perch in the trees and drift to the base, the floor of the forest. The loss of the leaves allows the distant drumming and raucous call of the Pileated Woodpecker to be heard through out the forest. At the edge of the forest where there is an old Pear tree, there is the drone of wasps as they fly around the rotting fruit as it lies on the ground. And if you are there in the rain there is the wandering, light sound of the rain drops as they fall from the lofty canopy onto the forest floor with its cover of leaves. The path into the forest is covered in leaves from Oak and Ash and Poplar and from the unnamed multitude of lower elevation eastern hardwoods. The leaves scatter with a slight rattle as I walk the path under the trees.

The forest takes on a different smell in the Fall. The Summer is more dry as the heat of the day evaporates the moisture and dries out the leaf litter and other detritus on the forest floor. In the Fall the forest may be wetter as the moisture is not evaporated as quickly because of coolness of the season. The pears by the forest entrance lend a heavy sweetness. The leaves as they give up their moisture give an earthy odor to the air. The sap in the trees is being drawn down into the roots. As it goes down the Poplar and Tulip trees do not give the same Summer richness in the forest. The Fall is a time of rest and decay which give rise to the new forests of Springs and Summers yet to come.

During the Fall, the canopy and the understory and on the forest floor each have a wash of a multitude of colors. The canopies of the various trees carry a new palate of color as it is lit from above by the sun and viewed from below. In Fall with its cooler temperatures and shorter days, the tree’s process of photosynthesis slows and then stops. The leaves no longer take up carbon dioxide from the air, nor release oxygen. The leaves no longer are making the sugars necessary for the tree to grow. As a factory, the tree is shutting down; it will restart in the Spring. Now the chlorophyll which gives the leaves their green color and which is the driver for photosynthesis, breaks down, and other pigments are revealed. The carotene and the xanthophyll which will give the leaves their red, to orange, to yellow colors are revealed. Walking below the multi-hued canopy on a sunny day is like walking inside a kaleidoscope. Colors that no one knows the names of (1) are thrown into the air.

All of these speak to the coming of Winter, and to the promise of Spring.

1. Wasn’t Born to Follow – The Byrds, https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=wasn%27t+born+to+follow+easy+rider&view=detail&mid=48DFAEA971D863977A6948DFAEA971D863977A69&FORM=VIRE

Shot with the song in Easy Rider (1969) is at Sunset Crater National Monument, Arizona