The bunchberry flower has the fastest-moving parts ever seen in a plant. Initially, the stamens are held by the petals in a bent position, storing energy like a coiled spring. As the petals release, the tips of the stamens fly up and quickly release a burst of pollen. Shown are the details of the motion. The tips of the stamens act like a catapult, flipping through a 60° angle; the times on the earlier photos show that this happens in just 0.30 ms. We can model a stamen tip as a 1.0-mm-long, 10 μg rigid rod with a 10 mg anther sac at one end and a pivot point at the opposite end. Though an oversimplification, we will model the motion by assuming the
How large is the “straightening torque”? (You can omit gravitational forces from your calculation; the gravitational torque is much less than this.)
A. 2.3 x 10-7 N ⋅ m B. 3.1 x 10-7 N ⋅ m
C. 2.3 x 10-5 N ⋅ m D. 3.1 x 10-5 N ⋅ m
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