Splish Splash: Why Raindrops Don't Kill Mosquitoes

"Imagine how tough life would be if raindrops weighed 3 tons apiece as they fell out of the sky at 20 mph. That's how raindrops look to a mosquito, yet a raindrop weighing 50 times more than one can hit the insect and the mosquito will survive."

"How?"

"Put yourself in a mosquito's shoes — or rain boots — for a moment and step outside into a downpour of seemingly gigantic raindrops."

"'They're basically plummeting comets falling all around you,' says David Hu, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech. You'd think a mosquito wouldn't stand a chance. 'We expected the similar thing to happen as when you drive your car through bugs — you see this bug just splattering.'"