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The Random Question thread , AKA "Hey, whaddaya know?!"


jsharr

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There is a show on the local PBS radio at lunch time where callers can phone in and ask questions that they need answers to. 

 

So here is my question:  How high can insects fly and how do they stick to glass?  I just had a grasshopper land on my 24th floor window.

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Texas grasshoppers can jump a skyscraper if the wind is right.

 

generally speaking, they stick to glass by smashing themselves all over your windshield, but this phenomenon is usually obseved only when the relative speed of the grasshopper to the glass is at or near highway speeds

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I would think that it is not unusual for your building to achieve air speeds that easily exceed highway speeds.

Look, damn it, I did not ask how fast my building, or any other building can go.  I aksed how high bugs can fly and how they stick to glass on their own, as it flying 24 stories into the air and landing on my window.  Answer me, and be fast about it.  chop chop, sabe?!

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Look, damn it, I did not ask how fast my building, or any other building can go.  I aksed how high bugs can fly and how they stick to glass on their own, as it flying 24 stories into the air and landing on my window.  Answer me, and be fast about it.  chop chop, sabe?!

 

The more interesting question is how your building got up to highway speeds.

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They found insects on the top of Mt. Everest.  They get carried up by the wind,  that happens to them.  In general, it sucks to be an insect.

 

Do you know if your grasshopper flew up 24 floors?  Perhaps he was a victim of a strong wind.

I do not speak grasshopper so I could not ask.  Heck, I cannot even snatch pebbles out of your hand.

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They don't actually "stick".  From our viewpoint the glass appears smooth, it's actually not.  They are able to hook into the small crevices in the glass.

As for how it got that high, I'll assume it was a passenger on another vehicle and was let go, or the wind blew it.

Uh, there were no buildings passing my building.  Up until that point, you had me believing in you.

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They are able to fly incredibly high because their diet consists of foods that produce gas, they use that gas as a propulsion mechanism like KITT did when the Hoff would push a button.

So, based on that, it is only a matter of time until I see Couch and or Charlie fly past my window?  I hope the do not superglue their feet to the glass.  I do not want to see them release.

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Insects can fly as high as their energy and temperature allows for.

 

Your grasshopper or house fly is not capable of energetic action below 50* F. So in general purposes If the air temperature at ground level is 90 degrees, the 50-degree border is around 6,000 feet; if ground temperatures are in the 70s, the ceiling is around 3,600 feet.

 

Square Wheels answer of the glass is quite correct.

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