D3036: Do electric bees dream of flight: The effect of flight environment and morphology on insect surface charges

Through flight, many insects accumulate electric surface charges through triboelectric interactions with the air. Bumble bees have the highest recorded surface charge of any flying animal. Even though the net surface charges are small, in the pico-coulombs range, this facilitates resource assessment, pollen transfer, and possibly enhances olfactory ability . While the effect of some environmental factors like humidity have been explored, physiological and behavioral factors affecting charge have yet to be closely studied. In this study, we explore how flight time, body size, hairiness, and environmental electricity affect the surface potential of insects flying through a wind tunnel. Our experiment seeks to validate the long speculated method of insect charging and our data explain the variation in surface charge observed in the field.