{"id":13732,"date":"2025-03-12T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=13732"},"modified":"2025-03-06T19:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T19:00:10","slug":"maple-seeds-spinning-motion-seed-dispersal-march-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/maple-seeds-spinning-motion-seed-dispersal-march-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple seeds\u2019 unique spinning motion allows them to travel far even in the rain, a new study shows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Winged seeds called samaras grow on maple trees. These are seeds from the Japanese maple, Acer palmatum<\/em>.\n AlessandroZocc\/iStock via Getty Images Plus<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n Andrew Dickerson<\/a>, University of Tennessee<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

When wind or other disturbances detach winged maple seeds called samaras from their parent tree, they spin through the air \u2013 and can even spin when it\u2019s raining. Impacts by high-speed raindrops only briefly interrupt the seed\u2019s spinning because the seed can shed the drop rapidly and restart its spinning in less time than it takes to blink.<\/p>\n\n

If you live somewhere with maple trees, you\u2019ve probably seen their striking helicopter seeds \u2013 made up of a seed pod attached to a delicate wing. Maple samaras\u2019<\/a> unique design and spinning movement can teach physicists like me<\/a> about seed dispersal patterns and even engineering new types of flying vehicles.<\/p>\n\n

The samaras\u2019 spinning movement, called autorotation<\/a>, keeps them in the air for longer so they travel farther.<\/p>\n\n

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