The bombardier beetle, power venom, and spray technologies

IOPP

1 April 2008

The bombardier beetle is inspiring designers of engines, drug-delivery devices and fire extinguishers to improve spray technologies, writes Andy McIntosh, from Leeds University, and Novid Beheshti, of Swedish Biomimetics 3000 Ltd, in April's Physics World.

The bombardier beetle, found mainly in Africa and Asia, is remarkable in that it can fire a powerful jet of hot, toxic fluid to fight off predators such as birds and frogs.  While the chemical reaction that makes the venom has been understood for some time, the actual power behind the venomous squirt, which can travel as far as 20cm, has been cause for speculation.

The research team at the School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering at Leeds University has now managed to replicate how the bombardier beetle fires hot venom. In a series of experiments using just water (rather than venomous liquids), McIntosh and his team have been able to fire pulses of hot spray distances of up to 4 m and have been able to control the size of the droplets in the spray. The technique has now been licensed by Biomimetics 3000 Ltd for industrial applications.

Press release

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