Meeting Abstract
S4-2 Saturday, Jan. 5 08:00 - 08:30 How ants behave like a fluid and a solid HU, David L.; Georgia Tech hu@me.gatech.edu
Fire ants can link their bodies together to build waterproof rafts to survive floods. In this talk, I will discuss the structures that fire ants build, and how these structures are limited by the strength of the connections between the ants. We use time-lapse photography and x-ray scanning to characterize the construction of rafts and towers. We relate the shapes observed to the rheology of the ants, their viscosity and their elasticity, which are measured using a rheometer, a device which usually characterizes the properties of chocolate and yogurt.