Why can termites eat silver?

In the 23rd year of Kangxi (1684), a strange thing happened in Yamen, Kaiping County, Guangdong Province.

One day in early summer, Grandpa Gao, who was about to leave office, ordered the treasurer to count the silver in stock, make a list and prepare for the handover. After counting, the manager was so scared that his tongue couldn't shrink back for a long time-3000 taels of silver were gone! This is really strange, you know, the silver vault is the key protection target, and it has always been surrounded by sentries, three floors inside and three floors outside. Could it be that this thief really has the magical power of flying over the eaves and disappearing invisibly?

County grandfather was furious when he heard the news. If this case is not solved, he will not only lose his glistening money, but also lose his brilliant future. How can he not be angry?

As a result, the county government was in a state of panic up and down, and it was a mess, especially the library manager who was directly responsible. It was even more frightening that the county grandfather ordered him to solve the case and sent people to stare at him day and night-fearing that he would commit suicide.

Just as the manager was desperate for this headless case, a Qin Bingren reported a message. Qin Bing accidentally found a pile of shiny white leech powder under the wall of the vault, and immediately thought of the missing silver. He followed the trace of white powder and finally found several termite nests as big as a laundry list under the foot of the wall. Could these silverware be stolen by termites?

The manager expressed doubts about this. I believe everyone in Kaiping knows the severity of termites. It is called "toothless tiger". It eats everything from crops planted in the field to trees, from beams and furniture in houses to clothes and books in warehouses, and even almost all houses in Kaiping area are eaten by termites. Every time houses collapse in typhoon season, people and animals are crushed to death. It is suspected that this is hard silver. Can termites eat it?

Alas! A dead horse is a living horse doctor, so we might as well verify it. So, the manager lit a big stove and it burned very brightly. Then break through the foundation, dig out the big nests of these termites and throw them into the stove together with their nests. After a while, the ants were put out by the fire. I lifted the floating ash on it and saw-hey, there is a layer of silver on the bottom of the furnace! It's only three hundred and twenty less than the stolen money. ...

What animal is this termite stealing silver?

Termites are not white ants. In insect taxonomy, termites belong to Isoptera because their two pairs of wings are equal in size. Ants, bees and wasps belong to Hymenoptera. In other words, termites and ants are completely untouchable distant relatives.

There are more than 2000 species of termites in the world, and 30 ~ 40 species have been found in China. Among them, domestic termites mainly eat houses and other buildings, which is the most harmful one. Widely distributed in the Yangtze River Basin and the Pearl River Basin, it is they who steal money from Kaiping County yamen.

The nests of domestic termites are sometimes built underground and sometimes on the ground, especially in densely populated areas. Dark, damp, windtight and well-fed places are good places for them to nest. The walls of the treasury are very thick, without windows, and it is dark and humid all the year round. It is normal for domestic termites to take a fancy to nesting at the foot of the wall there.

Termites are social insects like ants. In other words, they live in groups. In each group, reproductive ants only mate to lay eggs and give birth to offspring; Soldiers only resist foreign enemies and defend the group; The main activities of worker ants are eating wood, building nests and feeding other termites. Worker ants also steal silver.

Termites eat all kinds of food, which will bring a lot of trouble to human beings. Here are a few more examples.

Two tourists from Africa stayed in a hotel. After taking a shower, I spread the washed clothes on the grass to dry, but forgot to bring them back at night. When I remembered after dawn, I had left my clothes on the grass, and only a few buttons were still there. This is what termites do.

There is a rickshaw puller in Sri Lanka who is very tired during the day. After a night's rest, he sleeps under the stars. When he woke up, the rubber wheel on the rickshaw had disappeared. This is also done by termites.

1 981June1day, a big house in Hangzhou Children's Palace collapsed with a loud noise. Upon inspection, a girder was suddenly broken after being eaten by termites.

Termites' mouths are fleshy, no matter how fierce they are. Biting wood, cloth and rubber is enough. Why can they eat silver?

Today, we can use chemical principles to answer this question. It turns out that when termites bite silver, they secrete high concentrations of formic acid in their mouthparts. When silver meets formic acid, a chemical reaction will take place to produce powdered silver formate. Termites can easily swallow this powdery thing into their stomachs. But termites can't digest and absorb these silver formate, but decompose to form black powdery metallic silver, which remains in termites. Once these powdered metals are burned in a big stove, silver that melts into sequins will appear.