CO2 Challenge Requires Creativity, Teamwork at Young Scientist Challenge
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY 
on 10.23.07
To create the CO2 challenge at Discovery's Young Scientist Challenge the designer's of the contest arranged to provide the teams with scoops of ice, a vast amount of pvc tubing, lights, duct tape, CO2, and plastic.
How those items ended up being utilized made all the difference in determining whether or not your team was able to complete the challenge. It sounds simple enough, build a couple of mini-greenhouse structures out of pvc pipe, cover them in plastic, prop a light source on top, and then seal off the ice and CO2 under the plastic.
And with some of the smartest kids in America working together on it they've all got ideas to make it happen. But sometimes too many good ideas can make things tough to accomplish; and then there's the reality that tape is great, but plastic sheeting can be slippery when you're trying to tighten it around pvc with an industrial light attached as a heat source.
Ultimately, the groups got to see first-hand how a layer of CO2 caused the ice to melt much faster than in the standard greenhouse they'd built. And the lessons in teamwork that emerged from the process served as a terrific model for cooperation that could one day help solve the real world crisis we face.
See also: What Does a Volcano, a Paintball, and Your Bologna Sandwich Have in Common? , Green Architect Helps Kids See the Light
via:: Live at Discovery's Young Scientist Challenge
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