[lifeisstillgood]

I have to say I love the "speed of a running ant" analogy. It really emphasises the size of the universe.

But can an ant run 25m in 8 minutes? I honestly can't imagine how fast an ant runs. That would be a foot in 4.8 secs - that's a fast ant actually. But I guess close.

[Florin_Andrei]

> It really emphasises the size of the universe.

Here's another comparo:

If your average galaxy was the size of a coin, the size of the observable universe would be on the order of a large town.

[Florin_Andrei]

50mm/sec - yeah, it would have to be one of those bigger ants I saw sometimes outside in the summer, hiding in crevices in the sidewalk, while I was growing up in Eastern Europe.

[dalke]

http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/ecology-1991.pdf says that Pogonomyrmex rugosus travels at 0.1914 * T - 1.983 meters per minute, for ground temperatures T (in C) between 20 and 40. This is roughly 3.8 m/minute or 60 mm/sec.

The equation for Messor pergandei is 0.0878 * T - 0.1724 or roughly 40 mm/sec.

So 50 mm/sec seems quite possible.

[lifeisstillgood]

I have just realised this conversation has become about the average speed of an unladen ant, European or Otherwise.

[dalke]

Both laden and unladen, in the paper I linked to. ;)