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Activity 1 - Pack
the Truck
Expedition Preparation
Teacher’s Information
Standards:
Grade Six:
Illinois State Goal 11
Chicago Academic Standards: A, B, C
Illinois State Goal 13
Chicago Academic Standard: C
Grade Eight:
Illinois State Goal
11
Chicago Academic Standards: A, B, C
Illinois State Goal 13
Chicago Academic Standards: A, C
Topics:
- Extensive planning
needed for a successful expedition
- Problems that must
be solved before departure
- Planning for unknown
circumstances
Panel Summary:
A successful expedition
to a foreign land requires an enormous amount of advance planning. Many
expeditions take place in remote areas far from running water, electricity,
telephones, or hospitals.
The location of the
fieldwork and the size of the team are important factors that govern the
selection and quantity of supplies and equipment. Vehicles, food, camping
equipment, and medical supplies are just a few of the things that need
to be chosen carefully.
You must plan thoroughly
because you probably will not be able to acquire equipment or additional
supplies once you are in the field. On the other hand, you can bring
only essentials, because the trucks can carry only a limited amount of
weight.
Materials:
- Copy of Expedition
Preparation panel
- Copy of Bringing
the Essentials activity
- Calculator (optional)
Teacher’s Directions:
Review calculations
involved in Bringing the Essentials. Help the students get past difficulties
in questions 1-3 so they can attempt to answer questions 4 and 5.
Expedition Preparation
How are you going
to get more than a dozen people across the Sahara Desert and back? What
if one of the vehicles break down? What will the team eat? How much
will they eat? Where will the team sleep? What if someone gets hurt?
When planning an expedition, these are just some of the questions you
need to answer.
Vehicles
The team needs
lightweight, maneuverable vehicles to transport people and supplies across
the desert and to search for fossils in rocky or sandy terrain. A single
large truck would be too slow and would not allow team members to conduct
field operations in several places simultaneously. The team outfitted
five Land Rover trucks. Each vehicle has seats for four passengers, storage
space for food and gear, a roof rack for carrying additional equipment,
two spare tires, a box of spare parts, and two dozen 20-liter containers
(called "jerry cans") for fuel and water.
Food
Consider the
following: If 15 people ate 5 lbs. of food each day (they would be working
hard) for 90 days, the total weight of food consumed would be 6750 pounds!
This weight, added to that of equipment and supplies, would have exceeded
the carrying capacity of the vehicles. By taking dehydrated food, the
team was able to cut total food weight down to 2500 pounds.
Fresh meat and vegetables
are hard to find in the desert. The team uses pasta and rice as a food
base with sauces and stews made from dried meat, dried vegetables, soup
mixes, tomato powder and lots of spices. They even bring dessert into
the desert- freeze-dried ice cream bars! Granola with powdered milk and
instant oatmeal with dried fruit makes for a healthy breakfast. For lunch
the teams eats leftovers from the previous night.
Camping Equipment
Each team member
has his or her own tent, sleeping bag, and cot for the journey across
the desert. Personal gear also consists of a small flashlight, pocketknife,
hat, sunglasses, backpack, and canteen. The team packs large tents for
work at the field site- one to store field equipment, one for study and
work on fossils, and one that will function as the kitchen. Cooking takes
place on gas stoves because electricity is not available. Camp lights
run on electricity from car batteries that were recharged during the day
in the vehicles.
Medical Supplies
Vehicle accidents
and injuries from tools are the two most common emergencies in the field.
Because most of the expedition will be spent more than 100 miles away
from the nearest hospital, a fully equipped first-aid kit is kept on hand.
It includes cream and lotions for sun exposure, pills for common ailments,
antibiotics for infection, and a complete set of bandages. The medical
kit even includes equipment for blood transfusions and a list of the blood
type of each member. If there was a serious emergency, the team knows
who has compatible blood types.
Bringing the Essentials:
Background
The team
packs everything they will need during the four-month expedition into
six Land Rover trucks- food, clothing, camping and cooking equipment,
and all geological gear. We cannot leave anything important behind.
We realize that the
carrying capacity of the trucks (maximum weight that each could carry)
is the most important factor in deciding how much we are able to bring.
We also realize there is only one way to bring enough food for the whole
team for our four-,month stay in the desert: we must pack dehydrated (dried)
food. Water is quite heavy- a gallon weighs almost nine pounds. Dehydrated
food has had all the water removed from it. As a result, the food we
bring is much lighter thn the meat or fruit in a grocery store. We can
rehydrate (add water to) the food in the desert just before we need it.
It is a lot of work
to figure out exactly what to bring and where to pack it in the trucks.
And, we can’t forget to set aside room for the team members!
Directions:
You are
in charge of 1 expedition truck, in which you will carry yourself and
3 other team members on a 4-month (120-day) expedition. You must take
into account 6 important packing rules:
-
You cannot pack more than the carrying capacity of the truck
(or the truck will get stuck in desert sand).
- You cannot overload
the roof rack (or it will collapse and cause an accident).
-
You cannot put people on the roof rack (they could fall off).
-
You cannot put gas cans inside the truck (the smell of gas is
not safe or pleasant for passengers).
-
You must pack the truck emergency kit near the rear door (in
an emergency, the tire-jack and flashlight must be accessible).
-
You must bring enough food for each person each day in the field.
Click
here for a printable version of the activity
Carrying capacity
of your truck and other weight information are listed below. Use this
information to answer the questions. Show your calculations under each
question.
Weight limitations
Truck carrying capacity
4000 pounds
Roof rack carrying capacity
200 pounds
Weight of a team member and personal supplies
Body weight
of 1 person 150
pounds
Baggage for
1 person 100
pounds
Tent for 1 person
20
pounds
1 day of food
for 1 person 5
pounds
Weight of equipment
Jackhammer
400 pounds
Excavation tools
150 pounds
4 filled gas
cans
200 pounds
Truck emergency
kit 20
pounds
Medical kit
20 pounds
- What
is the weight of 1 team member?
- What is the weight
of 1 team member with his/her baggage, a tent, and enough food to last
the 4-month (120-day) expedition?
(HINT: First you need to multiply the weight of food used in one day
by one person (5 pounds) by 120 days. Then add this total food weight
needed for one person to the weight of the person, the baggage, and
the tent)
-
What is the total weight of the p[people in your truck with all
personal baggage, person tents, and enough food for the 4-month expedition?
(HINT: Since there are 4 people in your truck, multiply by 4 the total
weight you calculated for one person in question 2)
-
The only optional piece of equipment for the expedition is the
jackhammer, which might help if the rock around a fossil is very hard.
All the other equipment items are essential to bring (excavation tools,
extra gas, and special kits). Can you bring the jackhammer, or is it
too heavy when all other supplies essential to the survival of the team
are packed? (HINT: Calculate the total weight of all equipment and
add it to the weight calculated in questions 3 and see if it exceeds
the carrying capacity of the truck.)
-
Sketch the passengers and the items that you will bring on the
plan for the inside of the truck (cabin) and for the roof rack. Make
sure you have not violated any of the 6 packing rules.
Extra Challenge:
6. The fieldwork
is over and your team has discovered many heavy fossils. You know that
it takes 5 days to return home from the field, so you put this weight
of food back in the truck, (Hint: 5 days x 4 persons x 5 pounds of food
per day = 100 pounds) If our truck returns from the field with the team
and all of the personal gear and equipment hat were originally packed,
what is the maximum weight of the fossils that your truck could bring
home?
Teacher’s Answer
Key
- What is the weight
of 1 team member?
150 pounds
-
What is the weight of 1 team member with his/her baggage, a tent,
and enough food to last the 4-month (120-day) expedition? (HINT: First
you need to multiply the weight of food used in one day by one person
(5 pounds) by 120 days. Then add this total food weight needed for
one person to the weight of the person, the baggage, and the tent)
870 pounds [5 x 120 = 600 pounds (total food
weight for one person)
150 + 100 + 20 + 600 = 870 pounds (total weight for 1
person)]
-
What is the total weight of the people in your truck with all
personal baggage, person tents, and enough food for the 4-,oth expedition?
(HINT: Since there are 4 people in your truck, multiply by 4 the total
weight you calculated for one person in question 2)
3480 pounds [870 x 4 = 3480 pounds]
- The only optional
piece of equipment for the expedition is the jackhammer, which might
help if the rock around a fossil is very hard. All the other equipment
items are essential to bring (excavation tools, extra gas, and special
kits). Can you bring the jackhammer, or is it too heavy when all other
supplies essential to the survival of the team are packed? (HINT:
Calculate the total weight of all equipment and add it to the weight
calculated in questions 3 and see if it exceeds the carrying capacity
of the truck.)
No, it is too heavy. [3480 + 150 + 200 + 20 +
20 = 3870 pounds without jackhammer 3480
+ 150 + 200 + 20 +20 +400 = 4270 with jackhammer carrying capacity is
4000 pounds]
- Sketch the passengers
and the items that you will bring on the plan for the inside of the
truck (cabin) and for the roof rack. Make sure you have not violated
any of the 6 packing rules.
- The fieldwork
is over and your team has discovered many heavy fossils. You know that
it takes 5 days to return home from the field, so you put this weight
of food back in the truck, (Hint: 5 days x 4 persons x 5 pounds of
food per day = 100 pounds) If our truck returns from the field with
the team and all of the personal gear and equipment hat were originally
packed, what is the maximum weight of the fossils that your truck could
bring home?
5 days x 4 persons x 5 pounds of food each day = 100
pounds of return food
4 ( 150 + 100 + 20) = 1080 pounds team and personal equipment
weight
150 + 200 + 20 + 20 = 390 pounds equipment
4000 – (100 + 1080 +390) = 2430 pounds of fossils
can be carried back
Expedition Links:
Rock-it Cargo
http://www.rockitcargo.com/_story/index.html-
Rock-it Cargo gets the team’s equipment from Chicago to the Sahara.
Coleman Generators
http://www.colemanpowermate.com/generators/index.htm-
The team uses Coleman generators in the field.
Land Rover
http://best4x4.landrover.com/?vehicles/vehicles.html-
The Land Rover gets the team across the desert and into the field.
Bridgerstoves Spike
Tent
http://www.bridgerstoves.com/old/spike.htm-
Check out the tents the team will be using in the desert.
IXL
http://www.ixl.com-
IXL.com helps run the Project Exploration website.
Expedition
Bibliography:
Bowden, Rob and Tony
Binns. Journey Through Africa (Horus Editions, London, 1998) $10.98.
From Cairo to Cape
Town, this illustrated book takes you through 13 countries, travelling
by camel, bus, jeep, lorry, train, boat, and hot air balloon through wildlife
parks, forests, deserts, rivers, cities, towns, and villages.
Buettner, Dan. AfricaTrek:
A Journey by Bicycle Through Africa (Learner Publications Company,
Minneapolis, 1997) $23.95.
Join veteran cyclist
Dan Buettner as he treks through Africa with a multinational, multiethnic
team.
Raskin, Lawrie and
Debora Pearson. My Sahara Adventure: 52 Days by Camel (Annick
Press, 1998) $14.95.
Join insatiable traveler
Lawrie Ruskin on his real-life adventure across the Sahara. Includes
the top ten uses for a turban and how to climb onto a camel.
Videos:
The following videos
about Dr. Sereno’s expedition are available at www.libraryvideo.com
or you may call the Library Video Company at 800-843-3620 or fax them
at 610-645-4040.
Dinosaur Giants
Found – is a National Geographic documentary that follows the 1997
Expedition to Niger, and the discovery and reconstruction of Africa’s
dinosaur giant, Jobaria.
N0066, $19.95
Flesh on the Bones
– is an award winning documentary about the 1995 Expedition to Morocco,
the discoveries of two new predatory dinosaurs (Carcharodontosaurus and
Deltadromeus) and the paleontology process necessary to interpret and
reconstruct life in Morocco 90 million years ago.
K9937, $9.95
Fragments of Time
– is a New Explorer’s documentary about the expedition to Argentina that
unearthed the earliest dinosaurs to have ever lived.
N0519, $19.95
Skeletons in the
Sand – this New Explorer’s documentary traces the dramatic story of
the 1993 Expedition to Niger.
N0581, $19.95
Expedition
Glossary:
Carrying capacity
- the maximum weight the truck can carry
Dehydrated food
- food that is dried and has most of the water taken out of it
Passport -
An official government document that certifies one's
identity and citizenship and permits a citizen to travel abroad.
Rehydrate -
to add water to
Vaccination
- An inoculation, usually a shot, to protect against
a particular disease
Visa - An
official authorization appended to a passport, permitting entry into and
travels within a particular country or region.
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