====== Electrostatic pollination ======

The idea that flying insects might be electrically charged during flight by[[content:physics:general:static_electricity|static electricity]] was suggested almost 100 years ago. (Heuschmann, O. (1929). //Über die elektrischen Eigenschaften der Insekten Haare, Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology, //10(4), 594- 664.)

Because static can attract small particles, its possible role in assisting pollination by attracting pollen grains is currently being investigated.

A year-2000 review study looked at progress so far in understanding electrical pollination :\\

>The possible involvement of electrostatic phenomena in pollination processes in nature has been a subject of discussion and speculation for the last 20 years. The theory of the electrostatic aspect of pollination describing the effect of a charged bee approaching a flower, has been widely known for many years, but only recently has its occurrence in nature been partially confirmed.\\ [...]\\ __However, much more research is required, to elucidate the relevant phenomena, in both natural and agricultural systems."__\\ \\ Source : [[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284866523_The_role_of_electrostatic_forces_in_pollination|Pollen and Pollination (pp.133-142)]]

To date, many insect species have been checked, including bees,  bumblebees and house flies (hummingbirds have also been tested). They tend to have electrical charges in the low tens of pico-Coulombs, usually positive (i.e. lacking electrons as compared with the environment)

It's currently unknown whether electrostatics play a very major part in pollination, a very minor part, or somewhere in between.

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Also see :[[content:physics:general:static_electricity]]

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