How do flies hang on to surfaces in high winds?
362100
There is such good contact, between fine hairs on the feet of certain animals and the surfaces to which they cling, that van der Waal's forces can hold them firmly. Yet these forces are weak enough to let the animal peel its feet off, to walk or jump etc.\n\nSee for example these articles:\n\nhttp://www.abc.net.au/science/news/enviro/EnviroRepublish_1094975.htm\n\n"Spiderman suit should have been hairy\nJulian Cox\nABC Science Online"\n\nand\n\nhttp://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s138473.htm\n\n"Gecko's sticking powers revealed\nFriday, 9 June 2000 \n\nScientists have, for the first time, identified the mechanism allowing geckos to defy gravity and are using the discovery to develop a new type of adhesive.\n\nIn this week's issue of Nature, University of California, Berkeley, biologist Robert Full and colleagues, report that a gecko's foot is covered by almost 500,000 hairs, each ending in spatula shaped structures that collectively create a molecular interaction with the surface....."\n\nMore at those pages.\n\n:-)\n\nPS: G'day from Australia\n\n:-)
481512
I believe a cylindrical kite can fly. If you think about it there is space for the air to move through and yet there is a structure to create resistance. The air would move the the open cylindrical design, but at the same time, the walls of it would allow resistance for the air to hit and allow resistance in order to keep it in the air......that's what i think, i dont know about the no wind part though.
213534
They stay in the sky because they are part of our atmosphere. \n\nDefinition of a cloud - A visible body of very fine water droplets or ice particles suspended in the atmosphere at altitudes ranging up to several miles above sea level. \n\nThey aren't forced to drop to the ground unless they become larger droplets or bigger ice particles forcing them down by gravity - which is what would be rain or a storm.
416093
For flies, much of their primary sensory perception is actually carried out by chemosensors and highly sensitive vibrissae on their feet.\n\nWhen they rub their legs together, they are cleaning their feet, making sure that what they are tasting is really the poop they're walking on, and not the poop from three days ago.  It also maintains that sensitivity, which is very important for detecting motion and vibrations.  Hairs covered in poop aren't going to be able to twitch at the slightest shift in the ground.\n\nThey also use the newly cleaned feet to clean their large eyes, which are very important for safe flying and detecting predators.  Much like cats cleaning their ears, they clean their feet and then use the feet to wipe down their eyes.\n\nDespite the disgusting environs most flies live in, they have to maintain a certain level of hygiene in order to function.
378440
carnival baloons reach a specific hieght at which they stop verical movement and start to float around losing gas and eventually coming down to earth. i dont know why hey stop movung up but my guess is that they stop when the thickness of air at that altitude is less than the density of helium.
1098848
I can't find the source for this now, but my understanding is that they touch the ceiling with their front legs, then do a sort of back-flip.  They take off the opposite way, by dropping so they're hanging by their front legs, then they let go.
783086
Gravity is pulling down on the object, air is resisting it (pushing up, if you will) and causing friction, and if there's any wind it's pushing sideways on the object. I doubt you'd have wind in your problem, though. Wind is complicated :)
104208
I'm pretty sure on a web only some of the web is sticky. The spider just knows where to put its feet. I think... Or maybe its just the opposite of how a fly lands unside down on the ceiling.
403944
the answer is blowing in the wind
445484
They are likely following air currents-Flies dont think about where they are going-they dont really "think" at all, in terms of making decisions.  THey just have simple reactions to ari currents, heat, light, and chemical sensations (food)-If they are circling, its because there are air current moving in a circular motion, and they are following those.
626205
ok, it would freeze quickly (not explode-it is made of solids and liquids, which don't expand in vacuum). But for fun, assume it doesn't freeze or die of hypoxia.  Since there isn't any air, there is nothing for the wings to beat against, so it would flap it's wings and just stay in the same place- The motion of the wings might cause it to start rotating, though-so I would imagine the fly (which is a magic fly that doesn't dry up, freeze, or need oxygen) would just spin around in a tiny circle right where it is.
1143888
it is probably because of the winds and their directions
1031888
Flys don't move with the lift.  If the fly is in the air when the lift starts moving up, the fly must also move up -- or it will end up on the floor.  If the fly is perched somewhere on the lift wall, then it will gain momentum with the lift.  If the fly releases itself from the wall, it first has no problems because it is traveling at the same momentum as the lift, but it immediately starts to lose the momentum and must again fly in the same direction as the lift.\n\nTHE FLY IS NOT HELD IN PLACE BY THE AIR IN THE LIFT.
1088762
Sailboats do not actually go against the wind using their sails.  They tack at an angle in a zig zag method so that they use the sails to catch the wind and push them in an angle in the general direction of the wind.  \n\nThis takes a much longer time to get anywhere, that is why sailing ships took so much time and why we do not use sailing ships for much more than pleasure today.
1177301
LOL\n\nIts actually some flies buzzing around you.  Take a shower.
61716
The air inside the vehicle is moving the same speed as the vehicle. To the fly it's still air, unless a window is open, then the fly may not be able to fly normally.
517904
You can call it wind resistance or skin friction.