Traffic Jams

Post Reply
User avatar
Acromyrmexbob
Site Admin
Posts: 2199
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2015 10:32 pm

Traffic Jams

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:44 pm

I use very narrow ropes for the ants in the ant room to reach the feeding tables. One of the very big colonies sends so many workers out for leaves when I add food that there is a traffic jam on the rope. I have often heard about vehicles on roads and how, when the volume of cars and trucks reaches a certain level there will be a jam, even although nothing has happened to cause it. Something about the distance between vehicles gets so little that someone touching their brake has an effect which completely snarls up the road. What I see on the rope in the ant room mirrors this very well. The ants get to such high densities that there is a knot of ants trying to get past each other and the ants behind crash into this forming a bigger and bigger problem. Surely this is a good model to study when looking at ways to lessen the effect of traffic jams. If someone wanted to try different options and watch the effect, this would be the perfect way to do so without causing carnage on a busy road somewhere. Just a thought.

Post Reply