Draw a Circle Around a Bug

Summary

Biology, chemistry, chemical signals, entomology, repellents

Teisha Rowland, PhD, Science Buddies

Introduction

Have you ever had ants ruin your picnic? Commercial emmet repellents can keep them away, merely who wants to spray toxicant almost their food? In this activity, you can investigate the effectiveness of some less toxic solutions that yous may have around your dwelling house. Armed with your discoveries, you lot may be able to go along your adjacent picnic from turning into an ant cafe!

This activity is non recommended for use equally a science fair project. Practiced science fair projects accept a stronger focus on decision-making variables, taking accurate measurements, and analyzing data. To find a scientific discipline fair project that is just right for you, scan our library of over one,200 Scientific discipline Fair Projection Ideas or utilise the Topic Selection Wizard to get a personalized project recommendation.

Background

All animals sense chemic signals in their environments. Some animals apply these signals to communicate. One animal famous for chemical communication is the ant. When yous meet a line of ants, information technology is because they are following an invisible chemic trail. This type of chemical point is positive—it is called an attractant considering information technology is meant to attract others. But signals tin also exist negative, warning other ants to stay away. This blazon of bespeak is chosen a repellent.

Sometimes repellents can come in handy. Nosotros don't like ants to get into our homes, and then if nosotros apply a negative chemical signal effectually their foundations, the signal will tell the ants to keep out. Chemical companies will sometimes attempt to re-create a negative signal to sell as an insect repellent. But sometimes these chemicals tin can have side furnishings or be poisonous to pets or minor children. Luckily, there may be less toxic remedies around your home.

Materials

• Q-tips
• Small-scale cups or bottle caps
• Large, vinyl tablecloth
• A location outside where in that location are plenty of ants crawling around
• H2o
• Sugar
• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• Detergent (dish soap, laundry detergent, hand soap, etcetera)
• Tabasco sauce
• Lemon juice (or other citrus juice)
• Commercial pismire repellent, if yous want to compare its effectiveness
• Any other solution y'all would like to examination!
• Watch or stopwatch (optional)

Grooming

1. In a pocket-size cup or canteen cap, make a saturated solution past dissolving some baking soda into water. Keep adding and mixing baking soda until no more volition dissolve.

2. In a small cup or bottle cap, make sugar water by dissolving sugar in h2o until no more sugar volition dissolve.

3. If yous use a commercial pismire repellent, you should take adult permission and supervision.

4. Separately brand up additional pocket-sized cups or bottle caps of the solutions you will be testing: H2o, vinegar, detergent, Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and, if you choose to exam it, commercial ant repellent.

Instructions

1. Lay out your vinyl tablecloth on the ground in an area of heavy ant action. Await awhile for the ants to walk on the tablecloth. (Be conscientious when working with ants—some can sting and bite!)

2. Tip: If not many ants are walking on the tablecloth, you could try putting a pocket-size piece of fruit almost them, such as an apple slice, wait until the ants cover it, so carefully shake them off onto the tablecloth. If it is very hot exterior, you may need to wait until after in the twenty-four hour period when it cools downwardly for ants to come out of their holes.

3. Adjacent to the tablecloth have ready the solutions y'all will test: saturated baking soda solution, sugar water, water, vinegar, detergent, Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and, if yous want, chemical ant repellent.

4. Examination a solution on an ant past dipping a Q-tip into the solution and drawing a circle around the insect, near 2.5 centimeters in diameter. Did the ant stay inside the circle or go out it? Was in that location anything else you observed about the ant's behavior?

5. In this way, exam solutions on the ants until you have tested at least v ants with each substance.

6. Which solutions ordinarily kept ants within the circumvolve? From which did the ants readily walk out? Potential repellents will exist solutions that clearly trap the ants within a circle.

7. Were there circles in which the ants spent time standing, neither quickly leaving nor appearing trapped?

Actress: Once you lot find some potential repellents, you can figure out which ones work best. Endeavour this activity once more, but now fourth dimension how long the pismire remains trapped in the circle. Which repellents repel the ants for the longest amount of time?

Extra: You lot can also fourth dimension how long the ant stays trapped in the circle to experiment with dissimilar concentrations of repellents. How diluted can your solutions be and nevertheless deed as constructive ant repellents?

Extra: Try a similar activity to this one but only test dry or powdered substances. You won't need a tablecloth for this; rather for a hard, dry out substance like chalk you can draw the circumvolve on a sidewalk. For a powder, similar baking soda, sugar or salt, just sprinkle it in a circle around the ant. Can you detect some powdered or solid substances that work as pismire repellents?

Observations and Results

Did some solutions keep the ants trapped in the circle, whereas the ants quickly walked over circles made of other solutions? Did the baking soda, detergent and Tabasco sauce clearly repel the ants, although the h2o did not?

Ants rely on chemical signals to navigate toward food, their nest and other places, and we tin use negative signals, or repellents, to discourage ants from going somewhere. Baking soda; vinegar; lemon juice; some detergents (and cleaning products); Tabasco sauce (and other spicy substances, such as carmine chili pepper, black pepper and cayenne pepper) usually repel ants to varying degrees, and yous may take seen them trapped in these circles. Many other mutual household solutions can besides repel ants, including cinnamon, mint, salt, cloves, garlic, onions and bay leaves. Many ants are attracted to saccharide, and so you lot may have seen ants end and spend some fourth dimension on the circle made upwardly of the sugar h2o—they may accept been enjoying a snack! The ants should have quickly crossed the circles made of water, but if thick lines were made using the water or other solutions—or if the ants were thirsty—this could crusade them to hesitate earlier exiting the circles.

Inquire an Practiced

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Cleanup

1. When you are washed with this activity, let the ants render to where yous found them. Wash off the vinyl tablecloth and exist conscientious and thorough if you chose to use commercial ant repellent.

Additional Resources

Integrated Pest Direction Manual from the National Park Service
Nontoxic Emmet Command from The Best Control 2: Encyclopedia of Integrated Pest Management
Drawing Circles effectually Ants from Science Buddies

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Source: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities/drawing-circles-around-ants