A Source for the Excellent Floating Ability of a Water Strider

A water strider's floating mechanism is of significance for the design of new biomimetic robots. However, the explanation of this mechanism has not been fully comprehended due to a lack of effective experimental methods. We describe a novel transmission speckle correlation technique, which is used to determine the deformation of liquid surfaces caused by a resting water strider, as well as a calculation of the resulting forces in the vertical direction. Furthermore, the variation of the liquid surface morphology at different times in the process of a water strider being unconscious has been measured and analyzed. The results show that the wax material secreted by water striders is a vital source for the excellent floating ability of a water strider, and that the effective time of the wax is less than 2 h.