martinzoo

Today we did an activity to learn about how scientists know how to determine where ore mining should take place. Our challenge was to make a two dimensional map of an orebody, based on data obtained by poking a drinking straw through layers of play dough and examining the core which is removed by the straw.

First, we each set up an orebody. He would check mine, and I would check his.

We started with a grid, like the one in the picture.
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Then we made a layer of ‘Earth’ to fit within the grid.
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The next layer was the ‘ore’ and we were to design any kind of shape. Then we used a piece of wax paper, over our design, to trace the design, so we could check and see if our partner’s guess was correct. I’m showing you my design. GB’s result will be shown at the bottom, but I was not allowed to photograph it.
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Then we covered our design with another layer of ‘Earth’.
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Once the model was created, we switched models with each other.
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Using a straw, we poked holes in the model.
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We used a bamboo skewer to push the clay pellet out of the straw to see if any color, other than green, was showing. If there was color showing, we would use a magic marker to mark inside the hole.
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We each got 24 tries to guess the shape of the other’s orebody. We discussed the fact that it costs about $50 per foot of drilling, so scientists don’t want to make too many unnecessary core samples while looking for ore.
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When my 24 tries were up, I removed the ‘orebody’ from the graph paper, and using the dots from my magic marker, I was able to make a guess as to the shape of GB’s orebody. In this picture, I’ve laid the wax paper drawing that he made earlier, on top of my guess.
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As you can see, I was pretty darned close. GB did a good job with his, too. It was really a fun activity and I think he learned a lot. He said it was a lot like playing Battleship with ore….LOL!
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