Half a century earlier, the American mathematician Edward Lorentz was primarily wondering whether such a butterfly, flapping its wings in Brazil, could trigger a tornado in Texas via a chaotic wave effect.
If he had rather asked if enough insects flapping their wings could charge the air with the force of a raging storm, the concern might have been just as famous.
He didn’t, but now we know why.
Electrify the air with tiny wings
Recent research into the effect of flying insects on the atmosphere’s external electric field found that the flapping of a swarm of tiny wings can irradiate the air just as roiling clouds of water molecules can charge the air in a storm.
Tiny ice molecules that begin to rise on stretches of air can collide with large particles that push them to the surface during a storm, creating a charge carrier that exaggerates the predicted contours between both cloud layers, cloud floors, and the underlying surface.
Subsequent analysis confirmed that the voltage was related to the density of the swarm, allowing the researchers to predict with relative certainty how such a specific number of bee colonies buzzing through a given patch of air could potentially affect the charge in the atmosphere.
Using personal locust charges and scaling them to plague-sized digits, the researchers estimated that a sizeable locust group could likely generate charge densities similar to those observed in thunderstorms.
Giles Harrison, atmospheric scientist at the University of Reading, explained that an interdisciplinary approach is important here. Electric charge seems to exist exclusively in physics, but it is important to understand how the entire natural environment should be aware of the energy in the atmosphere.
On the other end of the spectrum, this catastrophic agent of chaos, the butterfly, would have to work together in large numbers to significantly alter the tension of the atmosphere.
Cloud movement, precipitation, and even cosmic ray showers can all affect the magnitude and location of potential gradients, but until now no one had considered the impact of biological effects.
When these negatively charged particles are jostled enough, they can spread out from their own positively charged compartments, resulting in a difference known as the potential gradient.
Also Read: ‘Mysterious’ Blue Flares Float in Earth’s Atmosphere in NASA Photo
Fee-bearing insects
In recent years, researchers have found that it’s becoming clear that insects and other invertebrates can actually carry charges that give them a tiny way to defend themselves against the nearby atmosphere.
Despite the apparent lack of flash, vastly different charged zones can affect the movement of ions, including toxins and dust particles.
Zoom in to see the atoms that make up pollutants, moisture and insect body tissue whizzing through the air above, then you’ll notice electrons being shuffled around like spare shirts in a runner’s pocket.
The atmosphere contains a variety of sources of electrical charge that perform critical functions such as droplet aggregation and dust and aerosol removal.
The variance of the atmospheric electromagnetic field shows this.
While all of these electromagnets are known to respond to both physical and geological processes, the influence of biotic charge sources has not been studied.
We bring together conceptual and demonstrable evidence to show that honey bee swarms contribute directly to atmospheric electricity in proportion to swarm density, and quantify this finding by comparing the electrical contributions of numerous swarming insect species with dominant abiotic charge sources.
Related article: ‘Charged’ hurricanes increase significantly on US Atlantic coast
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