Ice Cold

Design Challenge

The Problem

Major weather events, their frequency and intensity are on the rise. Many believe there is a link between these and rise in global temperature. Climate change and global warming is accelerating melting of glaciers and sea ice.

Scientist use a range of strategies to track the thickness of sea ice and ice glacials activity to help track and predict changes to sea level. Collecting this data helps track sea levels us to see trends.

Monitoring sea ice requires scientists to use of a variety of techniques. Unmanned aircrafts, sonar and satellite are used to track changes over time.

Scientists also drill into the centre of the ice core to remove pieces of ice to study, this can be replaced with sensor to monitor temperatures in real time or any changes in the ice over time.

Team Challenge

Imagine you and your team are polar scientist. Your challenge is to design and prototype a small device to deposit a small piece of equipment into the center of an ice core.

How would you do it?
What conditions and problems would the scientists face?
How can you apply your knowledge of mechanisms to help you achieve your mission?

You will be designing solutions for this problem using your knowledge on mechanisms. As a way to proving your idea could work, you will be making your design use Mechano. Then testing it using an exclusion area, and a plastic bottle. You will be working in teams to plan, design and model and test your solution.

The rules

You are going to design and produce a mechanical device to move a plastic bottle from the outside of a set radius (1m) into an inner circle placed at the centre of a larger circle.
Your design MUST include some kind of mechanical element, you will be using Mechano to model your design solution.
You will have ONE minute maximum to make an attempt at the challenge during final testing.
If your group’s design consistently can be used to repeat the move you can choose to also demonstrate this.

Working in teams of 2-3 people.
Every person in the team must be actively involved in the placement of the bottle.
The bottle must start outside the circle and must come to rest inside smaller circle in the center of the larger circle.
Students may not touch the bottle or reach into the 2m circle.
No part of anyone’s body may extend into the imaginary cylinder that extends above the circle.
Only the provided materials may be used.

Something extra....

Ever wondered what happens when you drop a block of ice into a very very deep hole cut into the polar ice?

Watch the video to find out.

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