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  • Can ants cause short circuit in electronic devices?

    Kaustubh Katdare

    Kaustubh Katdare

    @thebigk
    Updated: Oct 26, 2024
    Views: 1.8K

    I'm wondering if ants can cause short circuit in an electronic circuit or computer's motherboard. I've been noticing sudden rise in the population of ants (mostly because of rainy reason) around my iMac and I'm worried that they might enter the machine and cause short circuit.

    I thought the ants would keep away from the computer because it's at higher temperature when running - but the ants seem to be least bothered by the temperature. I just noticed an ant crawling right inside the machine - and I'm wondering if it's got any plan to damage the circuit. 

    Has anyone had any incidence of an ant causing damage to the electronics? Let me know. 

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  • Ramani Aswath

    Member • Jul 8, 2018

    The ants themselves do not cause shorts. I have had trouble with ants at higher voltages. Indian cooking uses a lot of oil. The vapours tend to condense inside open user wired plugs. Ants get into the plug for the oil smell, get electrocuted and charred. This goes on for a while till a fair sized mass of these short the line and neutral. This leads to problems with the appliance working.

    Happened to me a couple of times. I doubt if live ants can cause trouble in a low voltage device.

    There can be other issues with lap tops. If one of them is actually on the lap, then the classic ‘ ants in the pants’ may happen.

    Incidentally, there is a pnemonic about stalagmites and stalagtites. There is some confusion about which goes up and which down.

    The pnemonic goes like this: Stalagmites and stalactites are like ants in the pants. The mites go up, the tights come down.

    ( My apologies. Couldn’t resist putting that in)

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  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 8, 2018

    Interesting. Is there any data available on what's the potential difference required for the current to flow through ant? 

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  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 8, 2018

    Here we go - 

    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmoCdeSHh_U" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Crazy Ants Can DESTROY Your Electronics - YouTube</a>

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