The Effects of Ultrasonics on Carpenter Ants
"Every year, termites, beetles, ants and fungus cause more than one billion dollars in damage to buildings" ("The Wood Destroyers"). Products such as Pest Control, Pest-Elim 1500, and Westronix claim they can deter Carpenter Ants using ultrasonic tones, but the scientific community has not seen any experimental data proving these claims true (Scott). Therefore, we exposed ants to tones of 20, 30, and 40 kHz each at 90 dB and calculated the displacements of each of the ants after 30 seconds and compared the results to a control setup without any tone. Our data showed no significant immediate effect of ultrasonic frequencies on the ants. Therefore, we conclude that these products do not significantly deter Carpenter Ants.
Research Done By:
Kevin Onofrey
Fraser High School
Jeremy Verbit
Cousino High School
Warren Consolidated Schools