A spider standing on a plant, raising its abdomen and releasing several strands of silk may look like it is simply being carried away by the wind. But the physics of this strange behavior, known as ballooning, is more complicated.
Some spiders can become airborne using extremely fine silk threads, and researchers have found evidence that Earth’s atmospheric electric field may contribute to their takeoff. Experiments have shown that spiders can detect weak electric fields and that exposing them to an electric field can trigger behaviors associated with ballooning.
