# How strong are insects vs. people?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-are-insects-vs-people/334674>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 8, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-are-insects-vs-people/334674 "2005-12-08T14:51:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-are-insects-vs-people/334674/1 "2005-12-08T14:51:24Z")

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Everybody\* knows Spider-Man has the proportional strength of an spider. However, is that very strong? Is a fly stronger? I’m certain an ant is stronger; does that mean Ant-Man could slap Spidey around? What I’m really asking is, what are the strongest insects, arachnids, ect. , proportionally?

I’m feeling geeky today :D.  
\*Ok, most know, few care.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-are-insects-vs-people/334674/2 "2005-12-08T14:59:25Z")

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‘Scale strength’ does tend to be greater in smaller organisms, because motor strength tends to be proportional to the cross section of the limbs (i.e. the cross section of the muscles, or their equivalents), against the weight of the limbs - which is proportional to their volume. So as you get bigger, the weight increases on a cubic scale, whereas the strength only increases with the square. There are other factors involved, but this one’s a biggie.

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-are-insects-vs-people/334674/3 "2005-12-08T15:09:04Z")

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Mano a’ Insecto I’ll take on any bug!

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-are-insects-vs-people/334674/4 "2005-12-08T15:11:49Z")

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> [@astro](#):
>
> Mano a’ Insecto I’ll take on any bug!

**swoon**