Arrangement Allows Self-cushioning

a group of bubbles from a spittle bug are suspended between leaves

Biological Strategy

Froghopper

AskNature Team

Image: Vijayakumar Blathur / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY - Creative Commons Attribution alone

Manage Impact

An impact is a high force or mechanical shock that happens over a short period of time, such as a hammer hitting a nail rather than a hand pushing slowly against a wall. Because of their speed and force, impacts don’t allow materials to slowly adjust to the force, which can lead to cracks, ruptures, and complete breakage. Therefore, living systems have strategies that can absorb, dissipate, or otherwise survive that force without the need to add large amounts of material. For example, the Toco toucan’s large beak is very lightweight, yet can withstand impacts because it’s made of a composite material with rigid foam inside and layers of a hard, fibrous material outside.

Search this Function

Insects

Class Insecta (“an insect”): Flies, ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, dragonflies

Insects are the most abundant arthropods—they make up 90% of the animals in the phylum. They’re found everywhere on earth except the deep ocean, and scientists estimate there are millions of insects not yet described. Most live on land, but many live in freshwater or saltwater marshes for part of their life cycles. Insects have three distinct body sections: a head, which has specialized mouthparts, a thorax, which has jointed legs, and an abdomen. They have well-developed nervous and sensory systems, and are the only invertebrate that can fly, thanks to their lightweight exoskeletons and small size.

Search this Living System

The bubbles of spittle bugs and other organisms self-cushion due to the principles of soap bubble geometry.

Image: Zen /

A number of spittlebugs on grasses.

Image: Zen /

A number of spittlebugs on grasses.

Image: wiccked /

Spittlebug foam.

“Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres.” (Biomimicry Guild unpublished report)

AskNature