The “punch” of the peacock cane is as powerful as a bullet: how does this crustacean not get hurt alone when it affects?
Despite the funny name, The Candocchia is one of the most dangerous animals in the world – at least in proportion to its size. This order of crustaceans, called stomatopoda, in fact includes 200 species characterized by the presence of Two appendices similar to real puncheswhich are used for hunt: they are so powerful that they are able to drill a shell and even the glass of an aquarium.
A superpower that makes a question arise: how does the candocchia do to resist the repercussions of its own fist? The answer is in his “phononic shield”, as a study published on explains Science.
The strongest punch in the world. The protagonist of the studio is the Pavone Candocchia, Dentaldactylus scyllarusa multicolor crustacean that can reach 20 centimeters in length. His fist is also recorded among the other canocies: the force generated by the movement is comparable to that of a 22 caliber bulletand during the act the “clubs” move to 23 meters per second – 50 times faster than a blink of eyelashes.
The shield. Such a powerful punch, however, also generates an equally dangerous recovery; In the case of the Pavone Candocchia, the blow is so fast to create the so -called cavitation bubbles (gas bags that form inside the water), that when Explono generate further shock waves, in fact doubled the impact of the fist. To resist this counter-shock, the peacock cane during its evolution has a shield.
We copy the candrock! Shield that is hidden in the punches themselves, which have been analyzed with the use of a laser to study the movement through the structure of shock waves at different frequencies. The analysis revealed the presence of a Double protective layer: the first is located right at the top of the fists, where the impact takes place, and has the shape of a layer of Fiber of Chitina organized Fish plugwhich serve to keep the structure more solid and absorb part of the recourse.
After that, the rest of the “club” is still made of chitina, but organized in helical form (the so -called “Bouligand structure”), which filter and disperse the waves at the highest frequency, which are the most dangerous for the stability of the entire structure. According to the authors of the study, this “phononic shield” could be copied in creation of sound -absorbing materialsbut also of military uniforms that protect against explosions.
