13 December 2011

Seed dispersal by raindrops


The variety of mechanisms that plants have evolved for seed dispersal are truly mind-boggling.  In this video researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology show how some small plants convert the energy of a falling raindrop into an expulsive force (and, not surprisingly, how the shape of the cup holding the seeds determines the distance to which they might be thrown).

Via Cornell University Library and the Fuck Yeah Fluid Dynamics tumblr.

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