How does an ant survive a fall from a great height but another creature dies in a fall from a height of same scale ?
In: Biology
The answer is that ants have a relatively small terminal velocity compared to their size. Terminal velocity is the speed where the force due to gravity balances out with air resistance, and is the highest speed you can achieve while falling through air. Since insects are very light and have a relatively high surface area to mass ratio, the fastest they can fall is pretty slow. And because they’re so light, the impact force from the ground (remember the landing is what kills you, not the fall) is also smaller. It would be like a person falling from a huge height, but wearing a parachute and weighing half of what they normally do.
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