IMAGE: Illinois researchers Aimy Wissa, Marianne Alleyne and Ophelia Bolmin studied the click movement of a beetle click and are demonstrating the first analytical framework to discover the physics behind ultrafast movement … view more
Credit: Illustration by L. Brian Stauffer
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Beetles can click themselves more than 20 body lengths into the air, and do so without using their legs. Although the movement of the beetle was studied in depth, the physical devices that enable the signature movement of the beetles were not moved. A new study examines the forces behind this superfast energy release and provides guidance for studying the true movement, energy storage and release of energy in other small animals such as ants. capillary and mantis shrimp.
The multidisciplinary study, led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professors of mechanical science and engineering Aimy Wissa and Alison Dunn, entomology professor Marianne Alleyne and mechanical science and engineering graduate student and lead author Ophelia Bolmin, is published in the Proceedings of that National Academy of Science.
Many insects use different methods to get over the limits of their muscles. However, unlike other insects, click beetles use a special device in their thorax, just behind the head, to jump.
Watch a video describing this research [LINK: https:/
To find out how the hinge works, the team used high-speed X-rays to see and measure how beetle body parts move before, during and after the ultrafast energy release.
“The reducer has a peg on one side that keeps it attached to lips on the other side of the ship,” said Alleyne. causes a jump of the beetle. “
Seeing this ultrafast movement using a visible light camera will help the researchers see what is happening outside the beetle. However, it does not reveal how internal anatomy controls the flow of energy between the muscles, other soft structures and the tight exoskeleton.
Using the X-ray video recordings and an analysis tool called a system identification, the team identified and modeled the click motion forces and levels.
The researchers noticed large, but relatively slow, deformations in the soft material part of the beetle’s bends before they moved rapidly.
“When the peg in the lump slides over the lip, the deformation in the soft tissue is released very quickly, and the peg opens back and forth in the cavity under the lips. before it comes to a stop, “Wissa said.” The rapid release of deformation and oscillations that are ongoing, but decreasing, reveal two basic engineering principles called elastic recoil and damping. “
The acceleration of this movement is more than 300 times faster than the acceleration of the Earth’s gravity. That’s a lot of energy coming from such a small organism, the researchers said.
“Surprisingly, the beetle can repeat this click movement without sustaining significant physical damage,” Dunn said. “That put us in focus on figuring out what the beetles use for energy storage, release and distribution. ”
“We found that the beast uses a phenomenon called snap-buckling – a fundamental principle of mechanical engineering – to release elastic energy very quickly,” says Bolmin. you will find in jumping popper toys. “
“We were surprised to learn that the beetles use these basic engineering principles. If an engineer wanted to build a machine that jumps like a click beetle, it would seem that they would design it in the same way. nature did, “said Wissa. “This work was a great example of how engineering can learn from nature and how nature reflects the principles of physics and engineering.”
“These results are interesting from an engineering point of view, and for biologists, this work gives us a new perspective on how and why click beetles came this way,” said Alleyne. this vision never emerges, if not for this interdisciplinary collaboration between engineering and biology. It opens a new door to both realms. “
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John Socha of Virginia Tech and Kamel Fezzaa of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory helped compile the high-speed X-ray videos that allowed the findings of this paper.
The U.S. Department of Energy supported the study.
Wissa is also affiliated with aerospace engineering and Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Dunn is also affiliated with Carle Illinois College of Medicine and RAILtec. Alleyne is also affiliated with mechanical science and engineering and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology in Illinois.
Editor’s notes:
To reach Aimy Wissa, call 217-244-4193; email [email protected].
The paper “nonlinear elasticity and damping regulates ultrafast dynamics in click beetles” is available online. DOI: 10.1073 / pnas.2014569118.
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