# What You Get When You Pour Molten Aluminum Into An Ant Hill **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224 "2013-12-13T05:06:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/21 "2013-12-13T11:32:43Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I thought so too originally. But after watching it, I thought it was very … informative regarding the ant colony. And anyway, ants aren’t on any endangered list I know of, and they’ll invade your home if they see fit. So, fuck 'em. QFT. These aren’t just any old ants that invade your home. These are _fire ants!_ They invade your home and burn it to the ground, at night, you and your family included. It is desired to endanger them to the maximal degree (Fahrenheit or Centigrade) possible. BTW, I can’t actually watch the video on my mochine – it doesn’t do video. Can someone give me the tl;dr summary of what happens when you pour molten aluminum on a fire ant hill? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/22 "2013-12-13T12:17:10Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > There’s something fishy about that video. The first scene showed him pouring molten metal into the mouth of a man-made mound, not an ant mound. See the grooves on one side made by human fingers? > > The next scene showed him digging up the cast. Note that that top was flat still with grass on it. It definitely was not the cast made in the first scene. If he poured it into a volcanic “neck” then the cast should have a bottom “stem.” > > But then again, the idea isn’t so far fetched. Maybe he made a collage purely for demonstration. It looks to me like they covered the original, smaller anthill with a sand mound, possibly to facilitate pouring in the metal. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/23 "2013-12-13T13:35:02Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Wow. That seems epically and needlessly cruel to me. Probably less cruel than the various poisons that one could use. The super-high temperature of the metal and the tiny length scale of the ant means that molten metal will destroy their brain (and therefore any ability to suffer) within a fraction of a second when it gets anywhere near them. This is a far different proposition than throwing something the size of a human being into a lake of lava, where it will take a prolonged period of time before unconsciousness sets in. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/24 "2013-12-13T13:53:54Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Can someone give me the tl;dr summary of what happens when you pour molten aluminum on a fire ant hill? You get a casting of the ant colony, with all its intricate tunnels and such. It’s a work or art really. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/25 "2013-12-13T14:17:36Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > You get a casting of the ant colony, with all its intricate tunnels and such. It’s a work or art really. More of a work of ant. > [@Miller](#): > > Also, they’re fucking vermin. So there’s that angle. > [@Floater](#): > > That is a very anthropocentric point of view if you ask me. It’s less an anthropocentric POV than an ‘every species in the area except the fire-ants’-centric POV. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/26 "2013-12-13T14:45:33Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > I too feel a bit uncomfortable with this. I know that fire ants are invasives who cause a lot of trouble, but pouring molten metal on any living creature does seem inhumane to me. It’s similar to how it seems cruel to pull legs off flies even though many people kill them outright. > [There are reasons to think that insects do indeed suffer and have some kind of primitive consciousness](http://www.utilitarian-essays.com/insect-pain.html). > I certainly realize sometimes killing insects is unavoidable, but we should try to be aware of doing it as humanely as possible I think. Spoken like someone who has never seen their three year old child step barefoot into a fire ant mound. Molten aluminum isn’t cruel enough for those fuckers. > [@the\_diego](#): > > There’s something fishy about that video. The first scene showed him pouring molten metal into the mouth of a man-made mound, not an ant mound. See the grooves on one side made by human fingers? > > The next scene showed him digging up the cast. Note that that top was flat still with grass on it. It definitely was not the cast made in the first scene. If he poured it into a volcanic “neck” then the cast should have a bottom “stem.” > > But then again, the idea isn’t so far fetched. Maybe he made a collage purely for demonstration. The caster had made a cone of sand on top of the fire ant mound to funnel the liquid into the mound. Otherwise, the aluminum would have spread all over the ground, and not into the mound. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/27 "2013-12-13T14:46:16Z")
[QUOTE=lavenderviolet] I too feel a bit uncomfortable with this. I know that fire ants are invasives who cause a lot of trouble, but pouring molten metal on any living creature does seem inhumane to me. It’s similar to how it seems cruel to pull legs off flies even though many people kill them outright. [/QUOTE] How do you feel about stepping on them? Or poisoning them? As well-mentioned, we’re talking about fire ants. If you’ve never been bitten by one or a hundred of them, you just don’t understand how horrible they are. People have died from being bitten by fire ants. Death by instant vaporization seems much more humane than death by anaphylaxis. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/28 "2013-12-13T14:47:46Z")
When I watch that I hear the Pink Panther theme song in my head. Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant dead ant dead ant dead annnnnnnnt ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/29 "2013-12-13T14:51:19Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > When I watch that I hear the Pink Panther theme song in my head. > > Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant dead ant dead ant dead annnnnnnnt What a coincidence. So did\*\* cochrane \*\*in post 13. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/30 "2013-12-13T15:11:14Z")
you gain a level. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/31 "2013-12-13T15:29:09Z")
Holy crap, those colony casts are really cool. And terrifying. I didn’t know ants went that far underground! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/32 "2013-12-13T15:31:00Z")
I’m impressed that they can construct such intricate structures. What surprises me is that these small rooms with little vertical soil ceilings between them can stand up. Not sure if they add any sticky secretions to keep the soil particles together or that they have to live in soil mixtures with at least some cohesive component. I suspect they could not recreate such a feat if they were placed in a perfectly granular soil such as a sand dune. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/33 "2013-12-13T15:53:31Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Holy crap, those colony casts are really cool. And terrifying. I didn’t know ants went that far underground! I was actually surprised how SHALLOW that particular colony was. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/34 "2013-12-13T16:05:02Z")
It may have have been a young colony. Maybe it would be bigger if they waited a year or two. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/35 "2013-12-13T16:05:37Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > [Tschinkel aluminum ant mound casting](http://www.core77.com/blog/architecture/walter_tschinkels_aluminum_casts_of_ant_colonies_reveals_insect_architecture_23607.asp). The article says the molten aluminum vaporizes the ants, so at least it’s fast. The ones pictured on that link are really cool. Scaled up to human size those are huge. They can be up to 12ft deep, which is about 300 times the body length of a half-inch ant. That’s on a par with humans building the CN Tower. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/36 "2013-12-13T16:25:30Z")
It’s a lot like a modern apartment complex. All these corridors and rooms where the ants live and store food. I noticed they didn’t show how the guy positioned the hole for the liquid aluminum. It must be tricky finding and digging into the main entrance of the colony. I guess thats a trade secret. He’s making a lot of money for these sculptures. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/37 "2013-12-13T17:53:59Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The ones pictured on that link are really cool. Scaled up to human size those are huge. They can be up to 12ft deep, which is about 300 times the body length of a half-inch ant. That’s on a par with humans building the CN Tower. Upside down.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/38 "2013-12-13T18:01:51Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > something a little bit bigger - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-gIx7LXcQM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-gIx7LXcQM) > > relevant parts starts around the 46th minute. I may have seen this; I’m not going to watch it right now. Is this the program where some scientists filled an ant mound with cement, and had to use a whole truckfull before they were done, and it was 20 or 30 feet deep? That was cool. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/39 "2013-12-13T18:03:01Z")
Yup. 10 tons of concrete. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224/40 "2013-12-13T18:23:00Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > If only Al would melt at a reasonable temperature, I could see turning fire ant extermination into a cottage industry. > > Earn big ucks while helping destroy a pest species! Work at home! A boon for the elderly! > > I wonder how much 20 lbs of Al costs… > > Luckily, no fire ants where I am. > > Wold there be something analogous for Africanized Bees? Maybe a glue dispenser at the entrance - as they enter, the bee gets coated with glue, and as soon as they bump into another bee, they fuse The current price of Aluminum on the London Metal Exchange is about 80 cents per pound. I used to work in a Aluminum Smelter and we sold Aluminum as hot molten metal and trucked it to customers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill/676224.md?page=3)