Anonymous

Why We Can't Hear The Footsteps Of An Ant?

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Muhammad Ali Profile
Muhammad Ali answered
As a matter of fact, Ants beat with their feet on earth very slightly and that slight sound can not be listened by us. But there are some other reasons as well I am mentioning them below.

In fact God has made our ears to function properly our ears can't hear the unnecessary voices and noise. For example, if you are in a noisy environment you can not listen at all what is being said, you would just hear the noise. And it is a blessing indeed for us.
Our ears can only hear the voice which is in between the frequency of 20Hz to 20000Hz. If a voice or sound is higher or lower than this frequency then in this case we can't hear that sound.

And this is the case with the footsteps of the ants. They produce the sound which is very low in frequency. And due to this reason we can not hear the sound made by the ants. I think my answer is very logical and you can understand it. You can also not hear a voice if its frequency is higher than the limits I've mentioned above. That's the reason dogs can hear the sounds which we can't and you can observe many other animals doing this.
thanked the writer.
John Smith
John Smith commented
Your answer may sound correct, but this goes beyond an intuitive answer. Frequency has to do with pitch and does restrict our hearing in some ways, but in this case it has to do with the amplitude of the sound wave and our ears are just not sensitive enough to pick it up.
Also, this fictitious creator of our ears is receiving undeserved credit. Our ears have evolved to be this way over billions of years of being shaped by our environment.
Shalin Choksi Profile
Shalin Choksi answered
Well, the answer to this question is quite easy to explain. First of all, ants are very small insects which can hardly be seen and felt. Even when they crawl up your bodies, you cannot completely feel them on your skin. Secondly, even when people walk barefoot be it on concrete or carpet, you can hardly hear your own footsteps because the sole of the feet is not exactly flat which is the reason why you cannot hear the sound of it. When we wear some kinds of shoes, it is still difficult to hear our own footsteps.

The other reason why we are not able to hear the footsteps is because the ants do not actually walk but they crawl like a snake. Their feet are too small to be called feet and can be called as scales of a snake as well. These are some of the reasons why we cannot hear the footsteps.
John Smith Profile
John Smith answered
It has nothing to do with the frequency of the sound wave, it has to do with the amplitude. The amplitude determines the volume or magnitude of the sound, frequency has to do with pitch. The sound is just too faint for us to hear.
It has nothing to do with god either, I don't know why that was brought into the conversation, but that's a separate issue.
Donald Gulledge Profile
Donald Gulledge answered

If you want to hear the sound of an ants footstep, you just need more ants. While the amplitude (sound level / volume) of a single ant makes so little sound as to be unpercievable to the sensitivitiy of the human ear, it does not mean it makes no sound. It also could have to do with the medium the ant is walking upon. 

For example if a person is walking carefully across concrete it may be difficult for you to hear them however if the same person walks in the forest through a bed of dry leaves you will hear those footsteps much easier. It also has to do with the distance the sound travels suffering signal loss - how close are you to the footsteps? Theoretically if you place your ear (sensor) close enough to the ant's feet, you might hear a sound if it is walking on a noisy surface.

But as I said, if you want to hear an ant walk - get more ants. Sound sources are additive (a thing called "power summing"), and as such two ants at the same level are "noisier" than one. Ten are louder still, and so on. Thus, to hear ants walk - put your ear very close to a nest of scurring ants on an ant hill - you will hear something as the hundreds march.

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