Gel Ant Farms - A Space Race Spin Off

Gel ant farms are just one of the hundreds of spin-off 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.

Well, it turns out that ant farms also feature high on Nasa's list of worthwhile experiments. Since the space program began there have been dozens of experiments devised to discover how processes that rely on gravity, or are affected by gravity, operate when freed from that ubiquitous force.

From seeing how unfortunate spiders manage to spin webs to the growing of perfect crystals, they've all been tried. Some are successful and some aren'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. So, to try to discover exactly how they did it, scientists at NASA began a project to develop a transparent medium in which ants would be able to build tunnels, just as in soil but, all-importantly, through which they could also be seen actually doing it.

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.

Up it went the Gel Ant Farm on a space shuttle and the ants started tunneling in their transparent gel. 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!

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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