Ants in Rheometer (IMAGE)

Georgia Institute of Technology

Ants in Rheometer

Caption

Ants were sheared in a rheometer, a machine used to test the solid-like and liquid-like response of materials such as food, hand cream or melted plastic.The researchers found that the behavior of live ants was similar to that of dead ants: when the aggregation is forced to flow, live ants let go and play dead. In this case, the viscosity dramatically decreased as the speed increased.

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Georgia Tech

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