Gel ant farms are just one of the hundreds of spin-offs
from the space program. We've always thought of space
research as being a bit wacky. Ever since the Russians
launched Laika the dog into space for no apparent reason
(other than to get one over on the Americans) and since
Alan Shepard used a six iron to hit a golf ball on the
moon, we've been wondering what space research is all about.
It's all about gravity
Well, it turns out that ant farms also feature high on
Nasa's list of worthwhile experiments. Ever since the
beginning or the space program, scientist have tried to
capitalize on the opportunity to have a gravity-free
environment in which to do experimnents.
From trying to grow unfeasibly-large crystals of silicon
(for micro-chip manufacture) to plant growth behavior, it's
all been done. Some work and others don't. But that's
science, of course.
The mystery of underground navigation
And one of these experiments was the now famous Gel Ant
Farm. Quite how ants manage to build and navigate their way
through subterranean tunnels has always been something of a
mystery. Therefore, in order to discover how they did it,
NASA scientists tried to develop a clear gel which would
make the ants visible as they built their tunnels.
The gel also needed to be sufficiently stable to withstand
the high G-forces associated with launch and re-entry. Any
sand tunnel would collapse under these unusual forces. High
G wouldn't affect the ants, of course, they are easily
strong enough to take such forces in their stride.
The Gel Ant Farm was launched, along with seven astronauts
to look after it, and the ants got to work. As I understand
it, the tunnels were a somewhat more wiggly than ones made
in the same gel by the same species on earth so gravity was
thought to play a part in the ants' subterranean efforts.
But, as far as I know, we didn't find out much else.
Never mind though, the good thing is that we now have a
fantastic selection of gel ant farms that are just great
for kids to study and learn from. Some people say that
non-stick frying pans are the only good thing ever to come
out of the space program – not so – we now have gel ant
farms as well!
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Discover for yourself the fun you and your kids can have
with a gel ant farm< at
http://www.antfarmcentral.com/gelantfarms.html
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