When wind or other disturbances detach winged maple seeds called samaras from their parent tree, they spin through the air — and can even spin when it’s raining. Impacts by high-speed raindrops only briefly interrupt the seed’s spinning because the seed can shed the drop rapidly and restart its spinning in less time than it takes to blink.
If you live somewhere with maple trees, you’ve probably seen their striking helicopter seeds — made up of a seed pod attached to a delicate wing. Maple samaras’ unique design and spinning movement can teach physicists about seed dispersal patterns and even engineering new types of flying vehicles.
The samaras’ spinning movement, called autorotation, keeps them in the air for longer so they travel farther.
Associate Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering Andrew Dickerson and his colleagues filmed raindrops as they crashed into autorotating samaras. Read about their findings at The Conversation.
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