There's a question from a textbook that goes like this: An ant is roughly 10-3 meters in length and the average human 1.7 meters. How many times longer is a human than an ant?
And there are simple ways to find the solution. See below:
10-3 = 1/103 = 1/1000
1.7 / 1/1000
1.7*1000 = 1700 times bigger
OR
10-3 = .001
1.7/.001 = 1700 times bigger
Of interest, Harvard University professor Edward O Wilson, and the German biologist Bert Hoelldobler, in their 1994 book Journey To The Ants, claimed that if we were to weigh all the ants in the world, they would weigh as much as all of the people.
The calculation is based on the idea that the average human weighs a million times more than the average ant.
And do you know how strong would a man-sized ant be? Curious Meerkat has the answer:
Although estimates vary, the average ant can carry between 10 and 50 times its own body weight, and run at approximately 300 meters an hour, a rate of nearly 800 times its body length a minute. This is equivalent to the average western man carrying between 850 and 4500kg (4.5 tonnes) over his head, and running at a speed of 83km or 52 miles per hour.
Check out 10 Frightening Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Ants, featured at io9.gizmodo.com.