Scientific explanation of the phenomenon of flies afraid of water balloon bags

One of the methods to get rid of that annoying fly is to hang a bag of water outside the porch.

The common house fly has the scientific name Musca Domestica , which lives very close to humans worldwide, especially in hot, humid tropical countries. They are often found in residential areas or live animals, where there is a lot of food and waste. Not only are they uncomfortable for everyone but they also carry many different dangerous pathogens such as diarrhea, skin and eye infections. This issue is of particular interest to restaurants or hotels and learns many ways to scare away these nasty flies. But there is a very simple way that many countries still use it is to hang a bag of water outside the door and they will never come to your home again. Why is that? Why are flies so afraid of water bags? Let's learn about this mystery through the article below.

In fact, this method also has many different views. Someone said to put a piece of banknotes in the water bag, someone said to have a coin in it. Some websites also commercialize, sell special water bags, use fly swabs instead.

Picture 1 of Scientific explanation of the phenomenon of flies afraid of water balloon bags
Water bag.

How bad is this method? Some argue that when flies look at the water bag, they will see their magnified image in it and fly away. However, the most common and understandable reason is simple light refraction . Light refraction occurs when an object is clear or unclear, such as a piece of glass or a water bag, which changes the direction and velocity of light. The light rays were then bent and caused many phenomena such as optical illusion between the upper and lower water or the illusion phenomenon in humans.

Theoretically, refraction causes a lot of nuisance to insects, especially flies. Because they have a very special eye structure, it allows to change the viewing angle quickly and observe multiple directions at the same time. Scientists call it dual eye structure - one of the insect's transcendental points. With compound eyes, flies attach themselves to light rays, in natural conditions that are sun rays - parallel rays, to fly at very fast speeds as well as to turn around without disorientation. That's why when light rays are not parallel, like human-made light rays, insects in general and flies in particular are disoriented and circled around the light source. That's because they have to turn people to give light rays the right angle as they did with the sun's rays. This explains why when night falls, insects often fly around light bulbs or candles . not because they like light as people still think.

A plastic bag dangling in the space will be like a drop of dew, as a lens converges and the light passing through it will no longer be parallel, the space will be bent and protruding irregularly. And flies will have to 'bend people' , flying along the beam of light to match their natural reflexes.

Picture 2 of Scientific explanation of the phenomenon of flies afraid of water balloon bags
Theoretically, refraction causes a lot of nuisance to insects, especially flies.

However, there are many people who believe that this method cannot repel flies. Many people believe that it is a modern superstition story. Imagine the case, a salesman who asks you to buy a belt that is especially anti-shark for just $ 19.95. You wear it for a week and don't get bitten by sharks. Does this mean that the belt has a real use? Is there some relationship between belts and sharks? To confirm this is true you have to consider many other factors such as the reason the shark attacked you or not attack you or their attack frequency .

Similarly, water bags that prevent flies from entering your home can also cause a false effect . In medical conditions, it is called "tranquilizing" with the use of reassurance rather than healing. According to a study by entomologist Professor Mike Stringham, hanging such water bags even made the fly work harder. However, this study has not yet tested the effectiveness of water bags in the sun.

How bad is this story? Some people say it is true, others say it is wrong. Everyone has their own arguments. But no matter what, you will still encounter restaurants, hotels . using this simple method.