Air scoops provide cooling: ants

1 of 1 Meat eater ant / Fir0002 / License

Air scoops on the sides of ants cool them through evaporation.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

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Biomimetic Application Ideas

Self-cooling buildings, machines, heavy equipment tires.

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[Collapse all sections] Summary

"Another reason ants succeed so well is that they're superb lawn-traversing machines. When this first one backs away from the shadow of the giant human and reenters the main part of the sunny, hot lawn, little air-scoops on its side automatically switch on. A mist of cooling water vapor puffs upward from them. That keeps the ant's temperature down, but it could also mean that the ant's nitrogen--the equivalent of our urine substances--would become overconcentrated." (Bodanis 1992: 39)

About the inspiring organism

Formicidae
Formicidae

Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Self-cooling buildings, machines, heavy equipment tires.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Construction, manufacturing

References

Bodanis, D. 1992. The Secret Garden: Dawn to Dusk in the Astonishing Hidden World of the Garden. Simon & Schuster. 187 p.

Air scoops provide cooling: ants

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