Russia Voronezh- 2 IYNT 2015 Sidelev Lev

FLY   A fly can run easily on the ceiling . How does it manage to do that? Is it possible to make such a ceiling where a fly will not be able to run ? The goal is to study the principle of movements of the fly on the surface.

The research work plan: 1 ) To investigate the movement of flies on different vertical surfaces: A dry surface b) A wet surface c) A surface covered with soapy water 2 ) To fix the experience on camera 3 ) To explain the experiment in theory

Equipment 1 ) A vertical surface 2 ) Water 3 ) Soap solution 4 ) A camera 5 ) A loupe

A fly on a vertical surface: rough smooth

The flies’ legs structure

The movements of a fly on the surface: dry wet

A wet surface The lipids composition includes fat. Its density is less than the density of water. Fat is not wetted by water (that is, there is practically no interaction between fat and water molecules) and thus, there is no sticking, consequently a fly can not stay on a wet surface.

Conclusion: It is proved that a fly walks on vertical surfaces using claws and lipids. However, a fly can not walk on a smooth vertical wet surface.