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Post by stoner on Dec 13, 2004 0:57:06 GMT -5
1. Why is it that you never see baby ants crawling around?
2. At what hieght would an ant have to fall from to be crushed by its own wieght?
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Post by Toad on Dec 13, 2004 5:38:19 GMT -5
1. because they are not let out of the nest
2. Approximately 13.672349014729 meters
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Post by docone31 on Dec 13, 2004 8:48:39 GMT -5
Fascinating question. An ant begins as a larvae, the next molt is full sized ready to go. In terms of an ant being crushed by its own weight, It cannot. An ant is capable of lifting 700 times its own body weight. The chitln carapace, being mostly sugar is shaped so the ant never reaches full terminal velocity for a confined object. An ant needs to be accelerated by force to reach a terminal velocity, and even then if the distance is greater than the inertia the shape of the ant will slow down the speed and it will land at a less than terminal speed.
The atmosphere is the reason why ants, and humans cannot exceed certain speeds. With an human being, terminal velocity is reached in ten feet. An ant, falls many times faster in proportion to body mass of an human, but the speed stops increasing in inches rather than feet.
Sadly enough, there were tests in 1939, on human terminal velocity. There is a lot of data. Similiar tests were done on non-flying insects in the '40's. By the by, a cat dropped from the 13th floor of a building in New York city landed unscathed. It was an accidental fall. Later calculations concluded, a cat can fall from 1300 ft with minor bone, chest injuries. Fortunately there have never been any testing on how far a cat can fall and survive. The cat, fell from the 13th floor, landed, and walked away. The anatomy of the cat allowed the entire body to take up the shock.
I am glad it wasn't my cat.
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Post by hermatite on Dec 13, 2004 14:38:32 GMT -5
What doc says is true...an ant can't be killed by dropping it. I saw it proved on "Hey Spring of Trivia!" some weird japanese trivia show dubbed into english and played on spike tv. I give it 89 heys!
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Post by krazydiamond on Dec 13, 2004 14:41:48 GMT -5
i LOVE that show! i, too, saw the thing about the ants. do you also watch Takeshi's Castle? that is hilarious as well.
KD
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Foreverdown
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 66
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Post by Foreverdown on Dec 13, 2004 14:59:13 GMT -5
Hi all,
That Takeshi's Castle is probably the funniest stuff on TV. Its called Most Extreme Eliminations on our Sat tv. My wife and I are in tears whenever we watch it. All I can say is they must be on some serious drugs. ;D
What event is your favorite? Mine is when they run up a mountain with those fake boulders rolling down. My wife likes the log roll or whatever they call it. It looks like they really get hurt. Too funny!!
I haven't seen the Trivia show yet, just clips on the interweb.
[glow=blue,2,300]Brett[/glow]
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Post by krazydiamond on Dec 13, 2004 15:37:02 GMT -5
i love the one where they all run hell bent for leather in a group through the gates, only some of them are openings and some are solid and they bounce off...HARD!
i like the surfboard suspended over the water too, where they have to jump over stuff and land back on the board. total lack of coordination....hilarious.
there are so many that are just plain funny to watch.
KD
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