Mondo Knows Facts
Bombardier beetles shoot a boiling noxious liquid spray from their abdomen
Hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide react to produce a 100-degree spray.
When threatened, bombardier beetles mix hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide in an internal abdominal reaction chamber. Catalytic enzymes trigger a violent exothermic reaction, boiling the solution to 100 degrees Celsius and blasting noxious spray with audible pops.
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Tags: beetle, insects, defense
Bombardier beetles shoot a boiling noxious liquid spray from their abdomen: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide react to produce a 100-degree spray. The figure is taken from Natural History Museum, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a animals fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.
