If I dropped an ant from a mile-high airplane, would it die?

Question

I'm not sure if it's due to their low mass and consequent lack of inertia or what, but very small insects are extremely resistant to injury through falling. What I'm wondering is, if we've got a tiny little bug diving toward the sidewalk at terminal velocity, would it still survive, or would it splatter?

Answer 1

It wouldn't die from the impact, but it would probably die of dehydration before it reached the ground.

Answer 2

The ant would be fine, there is some confusion over what terminal velocity means on this thread though! it doesn't mean if you go that fast you'll die as some of these people think, it simply means the highest speed you can attain considering your total surface area and your weight an ants terminal velocity will be pretty slow probably about 2m/s.

to explain this a bit more, a perfect sphere which weighs around half a stone will travel faster through air than a sheet of paper weighing the same! its a bit like if you dropped a parachute from a plane it would fall pretty fast until you opened it but once open it would still weigh the same as before.

and it wouldn't matter what it landed on it would be fine (with the exception of molten lava) neither has it anything to do with having an endoskeleton!

Answer 3

Hi. An ant's mass is low compared to it's air resistance, so it's terminal velocity is very low. Just FYI, a cat that falls from 3 stories is less likely to survive than one dropped from 10 stories. The cat then has enough time to get all four paws down and spread, increasing its own air resistance.

Answer 4

The problem is with your assumption that a falling insect would even reach terminal velocity. In a vacuum, it would. In our atmosephere however, the mass of the insect vs the mass of the air it's falling thru would result in very reduced velocity. Finally, due to it's low mass the lack of inertia (as you mentioned) would result in little or no damage from striking the ground.

Answer 5

most likely it would survive. there was some crazy japanese show where they wondered this too. so they got some scafolding and dropped an ant from about 4 stories up. the ant reached terminal velocity from that height and when the an landed, it was alive. height doesn't really matter since this ant reached his terminal velocity from that 4 story fall. so it's reasonable to assume that whether from 40 feet or 40,000 feet, the ant reaching his terminal velocity would most likely survive. pls consider the fact of its low mass and wind shear the affects of wind on it would most likely soften the fall. it's like dropping a feather out of a plane and seeing if it will break when it hits the ground.

Answer 6

Its terminal velocity is probably lower than its walking speed. Without knowing is Aerodynamic Coefficient, mass and surface area (assuming a flat fall) you wont know.

Be interesting to plug some numbers in the formulas and see.

Answer 7

the optimal % the human body reaches in loose fall is about 180km/hour, that of an ant is a lot, a lot smaller. as well I do precisely like the answer that the ant has no bones to interrupt :-)

Answer 8

The ant weighs way too less for it to splatter.
It would float graciously before landing and survive, my friend.

Answer 9

pavement would be questionable, but it would certainly survive a delta opps jungle drop..lol or anything in the grass. they have next to no wait, and really arent very aero dynamic. kind of like a little black snowflake..

Answer 10

i donT think they will i saw so many time when they are falling down from our summer house's balcoony and the level of high maybe not that, but think the ant it is magical that they survive...