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A puddle is a small accumulation of liquid, usually water, on a surface. It can form either by pooling in a depression on the surface, or by
surface tension Surface tension is the tendency of liquid surfaces at rest to shrink into the minimum surface area possible. Surface tension is what allows objects with a higher density than water such as razor blades and insects (e.g. water striders) t ...
upon a flat surface. A puddle is generally shallow enough to walk through, and too small to traverse with a
boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on i ...
or
raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels ...
. Small wildlife may be attracted to puddles.


Natural puddles and wildlife

Puddles in
natural landscape A natural landscape is the original landscape that exists before it is acted upon by human culture. The natural landscape and the cultural landscape are separate parts of the landscape. However, in the 21st century, landscapes that are totally ...
s and
habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s, when not resulting from
precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
, can indicate the presence of a
seep A seep or flush is a moist or wet place where water, usually groundwater, reaches the earth's surface from an underground aquifer. Description Seeps are usually not of sufficient volume to be flowing beyond their immediate above-ground location ...
or
spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a h ...
. Small seasonal
riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...
plants,
grasses Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns ...
, and
wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the ...
s can germinate with the ephemeral "head start" of moisture provided by a puddle. Small wildlife, such as birds and insects, can use puddles as a source of essential moisture or for bathing. Raised constructed puddles,
bird bath A bird bath (or birdbath) is an artificial puddle or small shallow pond, created with a water-filled basin, in which birds may drink, bathe, and cool themselves. A bird bath can be a garden ornament, small reflecting pool, outdoor sculpture, a ...
s, are a part of domestic and
wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or wild garden) is an environment created by a gardener that serves as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibians, ...
s as a
garden ornament A garden ornament is an item used for garden, landscape, and park enhancement and decoration. Garden ornaments include: * bench * bird baths * bird feeders * birdhouses *columns – cast stone * fire basket *flower box **window box *fountains ...
and "micro-habitat" restoration.
Swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...
s use the damp
loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand ( particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...
which gathers in puddles as a form of
cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixe ...
to help to build their nests. Many
butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group compris ...
species and some other insects, but particularly male butterflies, need puddles for
nutrient A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excre ...
s they can contain, such as
salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...
s and
amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha ...
s. In a behaviour known as puddling they seek out the damp mud that can be found around the edge of the puddles. For some smaller forms of life, such as tadpoles or
mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
larvae, a puddle can form an entire habitat. Puddles that do not evaporate quickly can become standing water, which can become polluted by decaying organisms and are often home to breeding
mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
s, which can act as vectors for diseases such as
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
and, of more recent concern in certain areas of the world,
West Nile virus West Nile virus (WNV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that causes West Nile fever. It is a member of the family '' Flaviviridae'', from the genus '' Flavivirus'', which also contains the Zika virus, dengue virus, and yellow fever virus. The v ...
.


Puddles on roads

Puddles commonly form during
rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
, and can cause problems for transport. Due to the angle of the road, puddles tend to be forced by gravity to gather on the edges of the road. This can cause splashing as cars drive through the puddles, which causes water to be sprayed onto
pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically. The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with ...
s on the pavement. Irresponsible drivers may do this deliberately, which, in some countries, can lead to prosecution for careless driving. Puddles commonly form in potholes in a dirt road, or in any other space with a shallow depression and dirt. In such cases, these are sometimes referred to as ''mud puddles'', because mud tends to form in the bottoms, resulting in dirtied wheels or boots when disturbed. In order to deal with puddles, roads and pavements are often built with a camber (technically called 'crowning'), being slightly
convex Convex or convexity may refer to: Science and technology * Convex lens, in optics Mathematics * Convex set, containing the whole line segment that joins points ** Convex polygon, a polygon which encloses a convex set of points ** Convex polytop ...
in nature, to force puddles to drain into the gutter, which has
storm drain A storm drain, storm sewer (United Kingdom, U.S. and Canada), surface water drain/sewer (United Kingdom), or stormwater drain (Australia and New Zealand) is infrastructure designed to drain excess rain and ground water from impervious surfa ...
grates to allow the water to drain into the sewers. In addition, some surfaces are made to be porous, allowing the water to drain through the surface to the
aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characte ...
below.


Physics

Due to the action of
surface tension Surface tension is the tendency of liquid surfaces at rest to shrink into the minimum surface area possible. Surface tension is what allows objects with a higher density than water such as razor blades and insects (e.g. water striders) t ...
, small puddles can also form if a liquid is spilt on a level surface. Puddles like this are common on kitchen floors. Puddles tend to
evaporate Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. High concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when humi ...
quickly due to the high surface-area-to-volume ratio. In cold conditions puddles can form patches of ice which are slippery and difficult to see and can be a hazard to road vehicles and pedestrians.


Children

Puddles are a source of recreation for children, who often like jumping in puddles as an "up-side" to rain. A children's
nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From ...
records the story of Doctor Foster and his encounter with a puddle in Gloucester. Muddy puddles, and the pleasures of splashing mud in them, are a repeated theme in the children's animation
Peppa Pig ''Peppa Pig'' is a British preschool animated television series by Astley Baker Davies. The show follows Peppa, an anthropomorphic female piglet, and her family, as well as her peers portrayed as other animals. The show first aired on 31 Ma ...
, to the extent of selling character-branded
wellington boot The Wellington boot was originally a type of leather boot adapted from Hessian boots, a style of military riding boot. They were worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. The "Wellington" boot became a staple of pr ...
s.


Puddle thinking

It has been fashionable for millennia, and continues to be fashionable in some circles, to believe the Universe is designed for humans. Some critics of this view reject it as
hubris Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. The term ''arrogance'' comes from the Latin ', mean ...
or
anthropocentrism Anthropocentrism (; ) is the belief that human beings are the central or most important entity in the universe. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, and some refer to the concept as human supremacy or human exceptionalism. ...
and argue instead that through the process of evolution it is humans that have adapted to or been shaped by the Universe. In his book '' The Salmon of Doubt'',
Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), BBC radio comedy, ''The H ...
satirizes the belief that the universe is designed for humans:
Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, 'This is an interesting world I find myself in, an interesting hole I find myself in, fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact, it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!' This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it's still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything's going to be all right, because this World was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise.


History

Medieval legend spoke of one man who was desperate to find building materials for his house, so he stole
cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fr ...
s from the road surface. The remaining hole filled with water and a horseman who later walked through the 'puddle' found himself drowning. A similar legend, of a young boy drowning in a puddle that formed in a
pothole A pothole is a depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affected area. Wate ...
in a major street in the early years of
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, is told as part of the
Seattle Underground Tour The Seattle Underground is a network of underground passageways and basements in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. They were located at ground level when the city was built in the mid-19th century but fell ...
.


See also

*
Black ice Black ice, sometimes called clear ice, is a thin coating of glaze ice on a surface, especially on streets. The ice itself is not black, but visually transparent, allowing the often black road below to be seen through it. The typically low level ...
* ''Puddle'' (M. C. Escher) * Puddling (biology) *
Pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from tha ...
, a somewhat larger accumulation of liquid on a surface *
Puddling (engineering) Puddling is both the material and the process of lining a water body such as a channel or pond with puddle clay (puddle, puddling) – a watertight (low hydraulic conductivity) material based on clay and water mixed to be workable. Puddle clay as ...
*
Puddling (metallurgy) Puddling is the process of converting pig iron to bar (wrought) iron in a coal fired reverberatory furnace. It was developed in England during the 1780s. The molten pig iron was stirred in a reverberatory furnace, in an oxidizing environment, ...
* Rill *
Seep (hydrology) A seep or flush is a moist or wet place where water, usually groundwater, reaches the earth's surface from an underground aquifer. Description Seeps are usually not of sufficient volume to be flowing beyond their immediate above-ground location. ...
*
Spring (hydrology) A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust ( pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh ...


References


Further reading

* Adler PH (1982
"Soil and puddle visiting habits of moths"
''Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society,'' 36: 161–173. * Allocco, Maria (1999
"Puddle of light"
''Phys. Teach.'' 37: 468. * McLachlan A and Ladle R (2001
"Life in the puddle: behavioural and life-cycle adaptations in the Diptera of tropical rain pools"
''Biological Reviews,'' 76 (3): 377–388. * Royston, Angela (2005

Heinemann/Raintree. . * Weiss, Peter (2004

''Science News,'' 166(20): 308. {{pond Bodies of water Springs (hydrology) Limnology Habitats Bird feeding Ecological restoration Rain