Why are ants so strong?
I didn’t google but from memory… I think I recall that ants can lift 6 times their own body weight.
Why is this so?
Better leverage capacity or what?
monkey skipper said:
Why are ants so strong?I didn’t google but from memory… I think I recall that ants can lift 6 times their own body weight.
Why is this so?
Better leverage capacity or what?
For example, if you could shrink a human by half, his weight would be reduced by a factor of 8, but his strength is only reduced by a factor of 4.
morrie said:
monkey skipper said:
Why are ants so strong?I didn’t google but from memory… I think I recall that ants can lift 6 times their own body weight.
Why is this so?
Better leverage capacity or what?
It is because of the effects of scale.For example, if you could shrink a human by half, his weight would be reduced by a factor of 8, but his strength is only reduced by a factor of 4.
Why though? what mechanisms determine that?
monkey skipper said:
morrie said:
monkey skipper said:
Why are ants so strong?I didn’t google but from memory… I think I recall that ants can lift 6 times their own body weight.
Why is this so?
Better leverage capacity or what?
It is because of the effects of scale.For example, if you could shrink a human by half, his weight would be reduced by a factor of 8, but his strength is only reduced by a factor of 4.
Why though? what mechanisms determine that?
Take a something the size and shape of a match box. The strength is proportional to the area of end. (It is the same with muscles)
Now stack up 8 of these blocks. The length of any side is now twice the original. The area of the end is 4 times as much and the mass is 8 times as much.
“The strength is proportional to the area of end”
I must be pretty strong then!
:)
Thanks for taking the time to explain that in such simplistic terms Morrie.
Helpful again – you were.
Which is appreciated.
I’m glad that the explanation helped, monkey. :-)
Most relative-strength athletes (gymnasts, rock climbers, weightlifters) are naturally very small people.
Rule 303 said:
Most relative-strength athletes (gymnasts, rock climbers, weightlifters) are naturally very small people.
See , I thought the lower centre of gravity was an advantage. that wasn’t the reason though as I now know.
Rule 303 said:
Most relative-strength athletes (gymnasts, rock climbers, weightlifters) are naturally very small people.
morrie said:
I think that another example is provide by monkey bars. I used to be able to scoot across those as a kid, but couldn’t do it for the life of me now. Kids have better strength to mass ratio because of their size.
It’s mostly the relative difference in the distance between the fulcrum and the effort (ie, the pivot point of the joint and the point where the tendon is joined to the bone) and the total workload. Larger bodies need to move further (to perform the same movement) so more total work is done.
Rule 303 said:
morrie said:I think that another example is provide by monkey bars. I used to be able to scoot across those as a kid, but couldn’t do it for the life of me now. Kids have better strength to mass ratio because of their size.It’s mostly the relative difference in the distance between the fulcrum and the effort (ie, the pivot point of the joint and the point where the tendon is joined to the bone) and the total workload. Larger bodies need to move further (to perform the same movement) so more total work is done.
how many 210cm weightlifters have you seen?
jjjust moi said:
how many 210cm weightlifters have you seen?
None at the elite level. Dean Lukin is about the tallest I’ve seen at 180cm or 5’11”.
None at the elite level. Dean Lukin is about the tallest I’ve seen at 180cm or 5’11”.
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But Dean Lukin was all about efficiency, or at least that was what he did when he wasn’t lifting weights.
Stealth said:
Dean Lukin was all about efficiency, or at least that was what he did when he wasn’t lifting weights.
Efficiency? He was a Tuna fisherman or similar, wasn’t he?
Efficiency? He was a Tuna fisherman or similar, wasn’t he?
——————
Yep.
I’m missing the connection between Tuna fishing and efficiency.
Rule 303 said:
I’m missing the connection between Tuna fishing and efficiency.
+1
Rule 303 said:
I’m missing the connection between Tuna fishing and efficiency.
“What does Dean Lukin do when he is not lifting weights? Efficiency…” boom tish
I want my half an hour back.
http://dailyapple.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/apple-387-ant-muscles.html
Even as scientists are answering these sorts of questions about ant muscles, they never say where those ant muscles are. Other ant scientists answer questions about how ants eat, how they walk, and that sort of thing. In service of answering those questions, they typically provide anatomical diagrams of ants, like the one below. But nowhere on those anatomical diagrams do they point out the freakin’ muscles.Glance Fleeting said:
nowhere on those anatomical diagrams do they point out the freakin’ muscles.
There is an extremely limited number of places the muscles could possibly be.
It’s all weights and levers, man…
Rule 303 said:
Glance Fleeting said:nowhere on those anatomical diagrams do they point out the freakin’ muscles.There is an extremely limited number of places the muscles could possibly be.
It’s all weights and levers, man…