Insect Chemistry
October 6, 2006 11:59 AM Subscribe
a bug hit my car's windshield.
it was a large bug so it left a pretty large smear. this happened five days ago.
last night was the first time it rained since then. when i came out to my car this morning on the spot where the bug smear had been there was now a large (at least 10x volume) blob of clear gelatinous (exactly like pure gelatin) material.
what is that about? any ideas?
it was a large bug so it left a pretty large smear. this happened five days ago.
last night was the first time it rained since then. when i came out to my car this morning on the spot where the bug smear had been there was now a large (at least 10x volume) blob of clear gelatinous (exactly like pure gelatin) material.
what is that about? any ideas?
Well, the 10x volume could be accounted for by absorption of rain water; ie, the bug goo swelled up as it got wet. However, beyond that, I have no idea why a non-clear bug goo would become a transparent gel with the addition of water.
posted by Dunwitty at 3:16 PM on October 6, 2006
posted by Dunwitty at 3:16 PM on October 6, 2006
clearly it would become transparent because you're adding water to it, so the "solution" is becoming thinner. for example, if you take a teaspoon of ink and add a cup of water to it, a once "non-clear" liquid would become transparent.
it's obvious that this is what happened because of the 10x volume thing- loads of water plus a little goo equals translucent goo!
sounds charming =)
posted by alon at 6:41 PM on October 13, 2006
it's obvious that this is what happened because of the 10x volume thing- loads of water plus a little goo equals translucent goo!
sounds charming =)
posted by alon at 6:41 PM on October 13, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by JigSawMan at 12:20 PM on October 6, 2006