Alpheidae
October 5, 2008Something interesting I found while doing research for my corrosion assignment-
The “Pistol Shrimp” or Alpheidae has a special claw, just one special claw, that can cause a small pocket of cavitation.
This cavitation causes a shockwave of about 80kPa at up to about 4cm from the claw. That’s enough to blast a hole through shells!
This little blast is so powerful in fact that it produces a brief sonoluminescence which is where the water actually lights up and produces light from the sound passing through it. Awesome!
While writing I found this cool youtube video that dramatises things a bit but provides an idea nonetheless.
enjoy.