On a rainy day, the insect is saved by its small weight and exoskeleton.
Flying a mosquito in the rain is a dangerous activity. First, the insect's body is the same size as a raindrop. Secondly, one such drop weighs 50 times more than a mosquito. Its impact can be compared to a bus crashing into a person. Although the droplet can crush a mosquito, insects do not hide on a rainy day. Why doesn't the rain bother them? How do they manage to survive? In 2012, David Hu, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, took an interest in the issue and decided to video the mosquito's behavior when a drop falls on it.
What did he find? The droplets, in fact, constantly touch mosquitoes: for example, in heavy rain, this happens every 25 seconds. However, they never fall into the center of the body. Most often, the blows fall on the legs spread out in different directions, so the insect will only somersault in the air and continue on its way. Even if a drop falls between the wings, no injury occurs, because the insect is so lighter that it does not offer any resistance. As a result, there is a feeling that it rushes inside the drop to the ground.
However, the problems do not end there. Rain drop speed - 9 m / s. When a mosquito flies "inside her", it experiences very strong pressure on itself. If such pressure were exerted on a person, he would die, but the mosquito can withstand it thanks to the exoskeleton, therefore, to continue flying, the insect just needs to shake off the water.
Daria Zhelnina