Ant Attraction to Ascorbic Acid
CSU GK-12 Junior Fellows:
Emilie Henning, Aja Mattise-Lorenzen, Clay Rayment
Berthoud High School
Hypothesis:
Procedure:
If the molarity of ascorbic acid is increased, then the number of ants attracted
to the chemical in the box will increase to a saturation point.
The chamber that was constructed for this experiment consists of two boxes connected by a tunnel.
Both the tunnel and boxes are made out of foam core and held together with clear caulking and hot glue.
Glass was placed on top of the boxes and tunnel to eliminate any chemical fumes from escaping or leaking
in. Each box is 10 cm3 and the tunnel is 14x3x1.6 cm. A black line was drawn in the tunnel towards the box
containing the chemical to better count the ants that enter the box containing the chemical.
Abstract:
The ant project is a macro picture of the micro process that is the central focus
of the CSU bio-sensor project. The CSU bio-sensor project is a long term, cross
disciplinary project that uses a microchip to track the motion of cells in order to
understand how the chemicals that they emit for communication affect the cell's
movement.
The ant project is very similar, but with larger subjects: instead of individual
cells, ants are tracked. The goal of the ant project is to find a stimuli that causes the
ants to move or migrate and to design an experimental setup to gather quantifiable
data on the stimuli‟s effect. Extensive research and decision making was required to
find a suitable stimuli: there are many factors that could cause ant movement, but this
specific team decided to focus on chemicals. A special experimental chamber was set
up to allow the team to examine and determine the affects that the chosen chemical,
ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), had on the ants. In order to better understand those effects,
multiple molarities of ascorbic acid were tested.
Background Information:
Ants have three segmented body parts, six legs,
two antennae, and compound eyes. Ants use their
antennas for touch and sense of smell. When an ant
senses danger or food the ant will release pheromones
to communicate the location to other ants. The types
of ants being used in this experiment are
Pogonomyrmex barbatus, more commonly known as
Red Harvester Ants. Pogonomyrmex barbatus are
medium sized and are often found in drier
environments. These environments provide a high
quantity of food for ant survival. Their main diet
includes a variety of seeds, grass, and carcasses of
other insects. However, ants will eat almost anything,
including meats, oils, fats, and carbohydrates.
A Flip video camera was mounted over the tunnel part of the chamber to record the number of ants
that passed through. The video camera was then connected to the computer via USB and the video was
uploaded. A member of the project then visually recorded the net amount of ants in the chamber containing
the chemical and how many times the ants passed over the black line.
Ascorbic acid powder was weighed out according to the amount needed for 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0
molarity solutions. The powder was then added to 100 ml. flasks filled with water. The flasks were covered
in Parafilm and inverted to dissolve the powder in the water.
Students observe video recording to collect
data.
Student Lindsey Loberg rinses out beakers in
preparation for the experiment, while student Seth
Stockley measures out ascorbic acid.
To start the experiment ten ants were placed in the chemical-free box. Ten drops of ascorbic acid
solution was held in a bottle cap in the box opposite the chemical-free box. The ants were timed for two
minutes by a stopwatch to see how many moved into the box with the chemical in it. There were three trials
for each molarity, to create an average and eliminate outliers.
An “ant vacuum” was constructed for the use of transporting ants from the gel farm to the chamber
and back again. It was also helpful in counting the ants. A hole was cut in the bottom and lid of a circular
container and a plastic straw was inserted into both ends. The straw in the lid was covered on one end with
gauze, to prevent any ants from being sucked up from the container. A member of the team sucked through
the straw in the lid and the suction created a “vacuum” which then sucked up the ants into the container.
Results:
Both graphs refer to the movement of the ants based on molarity of ascorbic acid, but they each look at
a different aspect of movement.
The “Number of Ants that Entered the „Chemical‟ Box in Relation to the Molarity of Ascorbic Acid”
graph shows the number of ants that crossed the black line into the box that contained the chemical. Even if
the ants left the chamber again they were counted. The graph shows total movement, regardless of attraction
or repulsion. Overall, the ant travel level decreased the slightest bit in the beginning, increased for every
molarity up until 0.7, then exhibited a steep drop at the highest concentration.
y= -17.637x4 + 42.108x3 - 40.168x2 + 16.299x - 0.6019
The “Number of Ants in the Chamber at the End of the Tests in Relation to the Molarity of Ascorbic
Acid” graph shows how many ants ended up in the box with the chemical inside of it at the end of the two
minute test (attraction only). As molarity increased, the number of ants remaining in the chamber increased
until 0.4 molar ascorbic acid. The number of ants decreased for each molarity thereafter.
An Excel spreadsheet was created to track the ant data. The spreadsheet had columns to organize the
number of ants that crossed the threshold, and the number of ants in the testing chamber at the end. This
information was then graphed against the molarity of the ascorbic acid so an equation could be created
describing the movement of the ants. A 5th power polynomial was fitted to the data points so that a smoother
curve that fit the data better could be created. To get the data points that fit the trendline too, three experiments
from each test were taken, which were then averaged to iron out any inconsistencies. Then, using Excel, the
points were graphed into a scatter plot. After this, a trendline was fitted to the data, using the mentioned 5th
power polynomial. This was done for both the ants crossing threshold graph, and the ants in final chamber
graph.
Vitamin C is used as a poison to kill ants. This is
because ants are attracted to Vitamin C, but it kills
them when ingested.
Raw Data
Students finish building chambers and mixing
chemicals.
Colorado State
University
Asst.: Lindsey Karlin, Andrea Vigil, Seth Stockley, Clay Figg, Traye Koch, Zackery Sandell, Lindsey Loberg
Students observe the chamber and
brainstorm necessary changes.
Bibliography:
“Ants-Facts About Ants - Types of Ants -PestWorldforKids.org.” Pest Control Information for School
Kids and Teachers – PestWorldforKids.org. Web. 07 Dec. 2010 <http://www.pestworldforkids.org/ants.html>.
“Harvester Ants.” Globio / Where Kids Discover the World/ Portland, OR. Web. 07 Dec. 2010.
<http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspex?art_id=2&art_nm=Harvester Ants>.
“How to Eliminate Ants / EHow.com.” Ehow / How To Do Just About Everything! / How To Videos &
Articles. Web. 07 Dec. 2010. <http://www.ehow.com/how_2023723_eliminate-ants.html>.
“The Quick and Dirty on Photogates.” Photogates. Web. 07 Dec. 2010.
<http://www.waukeshasouth.com/physics1/photo.html>.
"Google Image Result." Google. Web. 28 Jan. 2011.
<http://www.antweb.org/images/casent0006306/casent0006306_p_1_high.jpg>
y= 89.065x4 - 253.6x3 + 218.26x2 – 57.898x + 12.852
Conclusion:
Based on the data, as molarity increases, attraction of ants increases until 0.4 molar,
then decreases for the rest of the increasing molarities. The hypothesis is partially correct
because the ants were attracted to increasing molarities to a point, then decreased instead
of flattening out. Follow-up experiments could test the effect of other chemicals (like
starch), powdered chemicals, sound and electromagnetism on Pogonomyrmex barbatus.
Each experiment was repeated three times. This small number causes variance that could
be eliminated by more repetitions.
• One of the errors in this experiment was ant escape: approximately 1.3% of the ants
got out of the apparatus during testing, causing less accurate data.
• Another source of error was that tap water was used instead of distilled water in the
solutions of ascorbic acid. The small imperfections in tap water cause variance in
chemical makeup and therefore may have affected the movement of ants.
• The last error in this experiment was that the apparatus was not washed out after
each test; this means that pheromone trails were not washed off, and ant movement
may have been effected.