Yup. You’ve read it right. Apparently, plants can sneeze, too, through a phenomenon called the flinging effect.
When two water drops unite, surface tension is released and converted into kinetic energy that can hurl the fluid away.
It’s a “surface tension catapult,” says mechanical engineer Jonathan Boreyko of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
Like a human’s sneeze, a plant’s sneeze can also spread diseases. This spells danger to healthy plants when sick plants sneeze as they spread pathogens that can cause a destructive disease called leaf rust.
More details of this story at Science News.
(Video Credit: Science News)