Crickets and temperature





Not many people know what Dolbear's law is, but many are aware of the principle. Hint: see photo. It was first formally documented by an American physicist named Amos Dolbear and published in 1897. On a summer evening, if you count the chirps of a cricket during 14 seconds and add 40, you will get a number close to the temperature in Fahrenheit. (This is a simplified version; Dolbear's proposed formula was more complicated but more accurate.)
Crickets chirp by rubbing their wings together. But how do they know what the temperature is? Scientists have speculated that the temperature affects how well the crickets are able to move their wing muscles; in warmer weather, they can move faster. But it's remarkable to me that crickets of various sizes and species around the world, and over the course of many decades of time, all exhibit this very consistent and predictable behavior.
Sometimes things like the chirp of a cricket that we find annoying, can also become a thing of fascination when we know a little more about it. That's a good principle. And it's good to remember that there is much more math in nature than we realize! I find it absolutely fascinating that there are such correlations. I #GiveThanks for this fascinating world we live in, and look forward to continuing to learn more about its "hidden miracles."

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