Physics in the animal world: lobster and his eyes

Source: diverkevin.com



Omar, many of us perceive only as a delicacy of the restaurant. In fact, this is a unique animal, equipped with one of the most advanced among the crustacean visual systems. The fact is that the lobster's eye is rather complex, it consists of small elements of almost perfect square shape . With a strong magnification, you can see the markings of the lobster's eye into squares.



Representatives of the lobster family have large claws, otherwise their shape is similar to river crayfish. True lobsters are distinguished by the presence of very large claws on the first pair of legs, and smaller ones on the second and third pairs. Males are much larger than females. The abdominal section is well developed and its segments and appendages are easily distinguishable. The wall of the body is represented, as in all crustaceans, in two layers - the exoskeleton and the ectodermal epidermis, which forms the shell. The shell periodically sheds, allowing the animal to grow.



Lobsters are long-lived among crustaceans. Representatives of some species live up to 70 years. True, it is difficult to determine the age of an individual, but scientists use several methods at once to refine this indicator. In particular, one of the main factors is the size of the animal. The results of the study of lobsters suggest that with age they do not become less active. The ability to reproduce is also preserved. Moreover, "old men" can be more fertile than young individuals.

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The larger the lobster, the more energy it needs. Food resources are limited, so the size of the animal is critical for its survival. 10-15% of lobsters die from exhaustion in adulthood. The largest lobster, according to the Guinness Book of Records, was caught in Canada. Its weight was 20.15 kg.



Another interesting fact is that lobsters have blue blood. This is a consequence of the presence of hemocyanin in it. Hemocyanin is a respiratory pigment from the group of metalloproteins, is a copper-containing functional analogue of hemoglobin. It is found in the blood of mollusks, arthropods and oniophors.

Lobster eyesight

The unique visual system allows the animal to see the reflected light, rather than refracted. Light is reflected from the mirror surface of square prisms located on the spherical surface of the eye. All these prisms are arranged in such a way that the rays of light reflected by some object (for example, by the bottom) are focused at one point. If the crustacean's eyes had some other shape, even if it was only slightly different from the current one, the lobster would not have seen anything at all.



Due to the fact that the lobster collects reflected light, it can also be seen in poor light conditions. If the light is bright, then the animal’s body produces a special pigment that blocks the focusing of all rays on the surface of the eye, except for those that run parallel to these prisms.



It is interesting that not all crustaceans have such a system of vision, but only those who belong to the family of long-bodied decapod crustaceans. This family includes lobsters with shrimps. All other crustaceans use perfectly ordinary eyes with a system of light refraction. The eyes of most other cancers consist of a large number of round or square cells. And when light hits them, it refracts in order to focus at one point.

And what does all this give?

Scientists believe that the system, whose structure will be similar to the structure of the lobster eye, will allow you to focus X-rays. The fact is that concave mirrors used for focusing ordinary rays are not suitable for this purpose. They are reflected only at a slight slip angle.





NASA scientists next to Lobster Transient X-ray Detector prototype



Such a device can be used to monitor space. Roger Angel [Roger Angel] in the late 70s proposed to design a special apparatus capable of observing the Universe in the X-ray spectrum. For a basis, he proposed to take the structure of the eyes of a lobster. The scientist suggested that the lens surface be made up of small square tubes with a width of 10 to 200 microns each. The tubes themselves should consist of a special kind of glass capable of reflecting x-rays. Several such lenses could be assembled into a single system for observing x-ray sources in the visible part of the Universe.







In 2012, NASA published material about the intention to create such a device, placing it on board the ISS. This system is called "Lobster Transient X-ray Detector". Such a system could monitor supermassive black holes, supernova explosions, neutron stars, and many other objects that are of interest to modern astronomers. In this case, the area of ​​the sky available for observation is quite wide in this case.



For the ISS, such a tool can also do practical work — the detection of ammonia leaks. The fact is that at the station, outside, there is a large radiator, in which there is anhydrous ammonia. When circulating through the pipeline, ammonia removes heat, helping to regulate the temperature on board. But as a result of a number of external factors, pipelines are sometimes damaged, microcracks occur, through which ammonia escapes. If the surface of the ammonia tank is bombarded with electrons, experts say, x-rays of a certain energy can be obtained. Such a device can detect the slightest changes in the integrity of the pipeline walls, notifying astronauts in case of damage detection.



Another use of the lobster eye is the production of electronic components. The conventional production system of such components is based on the photolithography process. In this case, the beam of rays through a special screen fall on the semiconductor circuit pattern, setting its structure. The problem is that the pattern on a semiconductor cannot be less than a certain size due to diffraction. The shorter the wavelength, the smaller the diffraction, and the finer the chip components can be made.