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P3rpetuallyC0nfused t1_javak5f wrote

I remember learning about a fungus in my mycology class that basically, as part of its reproduction, would absolutely BLAST some seed in the air. Basically 0 mass so it's nothing people would notice, but the speed was staggering. Grew on horseshit I believe, don't remember the name tho..

EDIT: it wasn't the speed that was staggering, but the acceleration of the spore. From Wikipedia in the comments: For a sporangiophore less than 1cm tall, this involves acceleration from 0 to 20 km/h in only 2 µs, subjecting it to over 20,000 G, equivalent to a human being launched at 100 times the speed of sound.

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Edghyatt t1_jaw6ddl wrote

Replying to anandha2022 (#2,158,720)

Isn’t there a discipline that uses a different term for “microorganism”? I don’t think it’s microbiologists, but maybe for a photographer, the term “microorganism” can denote anything that requires a macro or micro lens to properly observe.

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pete_68 t1_jawe21p wrote

It depends what you use to determine speed. Body lengths are a way of comparing speed of different organisms. By this measure, the Southern California mite is the fastest with speeds in excess of 300 body lengths per second.

That would be like a human going about Mach 2.

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