Escape the Spiderweb

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Electric Bees


I heard something amazing today. Bees, have a positive static charge. They get this because they rub against the air particles as they fly, losing electrons along the way. You probably know that flowers tempt the bee to land by making a sticky, sugary liquid called nectar, but that's not all. Flowers also use fragrance to attract insects, and they respond to the charges from the bees that land on them by producing more fragrance. This in turn attracts more bees to increase the chances of the flowers being pollinated. Once bee lands on the flower, its positive charge attracts the pollen, which is negatively charged. This makes sure that as much pollen as possible is taken away when the bee leaves.

Smart Flowers

The flowers don't have this all their own way. Flowers have a negative charge, and guess what, bees can detect this. You can detect static electricity too, when your hair moves when it comes near to something that is charged. Try rubbing a balloon on a jumper and putting it near to the hairs on your arm, you will feel them moving. Like you, bees are covered in hairs, and these can detect electric fields too. When a bee lands on a flower its positive charge neutralises some of the negative charge on the flower. This reduction in the charge on the flower lasts for a little while and tells other bees that it has been visited recently. How? Well, if a bee can't detect the electric charge on a flower, it ignores it, saving time to visit a flower with more of that lovely nectar.



Caught in a Trap

There's bad news for the bees though. Thier positive charge puts them in danger if they fly near to a spiderweb. Webs have a negative charge, and when a bee flies too close, the web can bend towards it due to the electrostatic force. It doesn't have to touch the web to be caught in it, just fly close enough. Poor bee, but lucky spider!


To find out more information about static electricity click here.

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