If I tie an ant to a rock and let it fall from a high place, then....?

[Boltzman Oscillation]

Summary explains it.

 

[berkeman]

What's the difference between the two terminal velocities? How does that affect the impulse on the ant upon impact with the ground?

 

[kuruman]

Summary:: We all know that ants can survive falls from giant heights due to F = ma or F = ma = change of momentum. If I attach the ant to a rock then the mass would increase. Would the ant be hurt more then or am I missing anything?

Summary explains it.

In addition to @berkeman's suggestions consider this. According to Entomology Today, an ant can lift up to 5,000 times its own body weight. You can do a back-of-the-envelope calculation with some reasonable numerical assumptions and figure out what size impulse is involved. I am guessing that to hurt the ant you will need to apply at least 2-3 times the maximum weight that the ant can lift.

If you try this at home, be sure not to attach the ant to the underside of the rock.

 

[Vanadium 50]

If you try this at home, be sure not to attach the ant to the underside of the rock.

That's where the coyotes go.

Back on topic, you need to also consider the force on the "rope".

 

[hilbert2]

Could it be possible that the sound waves generated in the impact of the rock with the ground could somehow damage the ant?

 

[jbriggs444]

Could it be possible that the sound waves generated in the impact of the rock with the ground could somehow damage the ant?

If you have a hemispherical rock (round side down) with a tiny centered hemispherical divot on the top within which the poor innocent ant lies strapped to his seat of doom and a hemispherical hole in the ground into which the rock can nest snugly then, on impact with the ground a wave front will be established at the outside of the rock. That wave front will propagate inward and may sting the ant's backside, yes.

As ant-killing technologies go, this does not compare favorably with a can of Raid.

 

[hilbert2]

As ant-killing technologies go, this does not compare favorably with a can of Raid.

Yeah, my idea was just about the same amount of energy doing more damage in one form than another, compare getting a sack of sand thrown at you and a bullet with same kinetic energy. People who have been near accidental explosions sometimes have internal damage caused by pressure waves.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK202251/

Previous attempts to define the mechanisms of blast injury suggested the involvement of spalling, implosion, and inertial effects as major physical components of the blast-body interaction and later tissue damage (Benzinger, 1950). Spallation is the disruption that occurs at the boundary between two media of different densities; it occurs when a compression wave in the denser medium is reflected at the interface. Implosion occurs when the shock wave compresses a gas bubble in a liquid medium, raising the pressure in the bubble much higher than the shock pressure; as the pressure wave passes, the bubbles can re-expand explosively and damage surrounding tissue (Benzinger, 1950; Chiffelle, 1966; Phillips, 1986). Inertial effects occur at the interface of the different densities: the lighter object will be accelerated more than the heavier one, so there will be a large stress at the boundary. Recent results suggest that there is a frequency dependence of the blast effects: high-frequency (0.5–1.5 kHz) low-amplitude stress waves target mostly organs that contain abrupt density changes from one medium to another (for example, the air–blood interface in the lungs or the blood–parenchyma interface in the brain), and low-frequency (<0.5 kHz) high-amplitude shear waves disrupt tissue by generating local motions that overcome natural tissue elasticity (for example, at the contact of gray and white brain matter).

 

[Boltzman Oscillation]

What's the difference between the two terminal velocities? How does that affect the impulse on the ant upon impact with the ground?

I never learned some of these terms, I became fascinated with quantum mechanics and pretty much neglected most classical mechanics. Right now I am learning more and more probability which will only help qm. I think the most advanced mechanics I learned was the lagrangian but i don't know it well.

 

[PeroK]

I never learned some of these terms, I became fascinated with quantum mechanics and pretty much neglected most classical mechanics. Right now I am learning more and more probability which will only help qm. I think the most advanced mechanics I learned was the lagrangian but i don't know it well.

The "terminal velocity" is the speed the rock must attain to kill the ant!

 

[Boltzman Oscillation]

The "terminal velocity" is the speed the rock must attain to kill the ant!

im not THAT behind in my mechanics.