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MakeShift 07: Analysis, Commentary, and Winners
by Lee D. Zlotoff
January 05, 2007
My apologies for not posting the winners of the Makeshift Volume 07 challenge sooner. There was an exceptionally high number of entries, most of them fairly lengthy, quite detailed, and all over the map in terms of creative thought and relative kindness toward a fellow human being in a difficult situation. Hence the judging was both time-consuming and difficult.
The Challenge was to resuscitate a large man who had fallen into a deep fissure swirling with potentially toxic gases using only camping gear and other resources available in the remote surroundings.
The first and most important step was to give the trapped man the ability to breathe some fresh air. Since he was also obviously injured and breathing in a toxic environment, this was a time-critical step. Many entrants thought that the best way to do this was to cut the tubes of the air mattress apart so that they could be duct taped together into a long breathing tube. This would take quite a bit of time, and given that the rigidity of air mattress tubes comes from internal air pressure in sealed compartments there is no reason to assume that these cut up tubes would not just collapse under their own weight, making breathing through them extremely difficult if not impossible. Other suggestions were to simply blow up the air mattress and let him breathe the air from it. This would certainly serve as a stop-gap solution but not really provide a steady source of high quality breathable air and would become more difficult as the pressure within the air mattress dropped off. Some people suggested constructing air filters and gas masks. Both would be time consuming and, since we have no analysis of the gases present other than from the sulfuric smell, we really don’t know what we are trying to filter out. And it may not be just a breathing problem we are facing since, depending on which chemical agents are present, such fumes may attack the skin, mucous membranes and the eyes.
Given the circumstances of this situation, the rescuer has to react quickly, and so those that decided to use the flexible tent poles in their two-man backpacking tent as long breathing straws (like a person underwater breathing through a long hollow reed) were given the highest marks since it would be quick to tape them together and get them down to the injured man.
Several contestants elected to find a way for the trapped and injured man to breathe while leaving him in the hole as they went to get help to extract him. These methods included sealing and lowering the backpacking tent to him so that he would have a sealed environment to live in while they went to get help, and building fires in the hole to create an updraft to vent the gases. Alas, the challenge specifically stated that he was to be safely extracted from the fissure first before going for help, so while many of those ideas were creative and interesting, they didn’t really rise to the original challenge.
In addition to the tent pole straws, other things we looked for in judging this competition were how fast the various components could probably be assembled in order to get the injured man from the hole as soon as possible. In this regard, the backpack is a natural lifting harness designed to be attached securely to a human body. The bamboo walking stick makes a great splint if cut into two 3-foot sections. The strong 40-foot rope is the obvious choice for lifting, and the air mattress could be used as a protective cushion during the lift. The rope should be protected from the rocky edge during the lifting so it will not get cut, and many of you found workable ways to do that — though a lot of you also had unrealistic expectations of how well a typical tent stake can be secured and how much force it could really sustain.
A few people generally checked over the injured man to see if there were other injuries in addition to the broken leg before attempting to lift him out. This was a good idea. Along this line, most contestants suggested descending into the toxic gas to examine him and help him get ready for extraction from the pit. If the gas had not killed him and if he could still yell, which was the case, then a few minutes in the toxic gas environment would probably not be lethal for the rescuer either.
Once the man was hooked up to the rope, the real heavy lifting would start. How to lift twice your own weight from the hole was the big question here. Greek mathematician Archimedes said “Give me a place on which to stand and a long enough lever, and I will move the Earth,” or something to that effect (he was speaking Greek after all). But he was referring to mechanical advantage gained through the use of a long lever and fulcrum in order to generate tremendous lifting power. It was here that the ultimate winner was decided, since this was the most difficult physical part of this challenge, though those of you who conceived of creating a counterweight or simple pulley system got a lot of points as well: to varying degrees, all of those methods would be viable. But the overall winner of this challenge designed a relatively simple, practical and effective lifting lever that could be constructed and employed in a relatively short period of time.
,Once the man was safely removed from the hole and stabilized, then it was time to get help. Here the scenario for this challenge states that you are only minutes away from the actual hot springs, but 12 miles away from where you started your hike. It makes sense to take a quick trip to the hot springs to see if anyone is there to help with the rescue. A few people thought of doing this but most didn’t.
Many of the entrants made the assumption that the large example of humanity in peril must be fat and out of shape (and also clumsy to have fallen in the hole in the first place). Anyone can get in trouble anywhere and at any time. Just because someone is described as large, does not mean fat or unfit; in fact the opposite is often true. And in this case the trapped individual would have had to make the same 12 mile uphill hike that the rescuer just made in order to have fallen in the hole in the first place. So they might be large, but they might well also be in relatively good shape, which could be helpful in getting them out.
A few went so far as to make fun of the injured and presumably fat man. One stated that he would cook up some food and tempt “Fatty” with it so that he would either get himself out of the hole on his own to get the food … or not. Darkly funny and original perhaps, but more in keeping with South Park, I think, than MAKE. The only thing missing from this “rescue attempt” was rifling through the injured man’s pockets for any cash or other valuables he might be carrying.
The vast majority of you, however, were clever, determined, and eager to help. If I ever fell in a whole, I’m heartened to think one of you might happen by to save my sorry butt.
Thanks again for all your sharp thinking and patience.
Lee Zlotoff
The winners of the MakeShift Volume 07 Challenge are:
Discussion
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- breathing tubes
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Using the tent poles for breathing tubes would not work for long. Depending on the length and width of the poles, the injured person would be rebreathing his own air, and thus suffocate due to high CO2 and low O2 levels. Human lungs just don't have enough capacity to clear the tube to get enough fresh air.Posted by physicsgal on February 21, 2007 at 12:35:54 Pacific Time
- Using tent poles as breathing straws
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My only question about these winning methods concerns the breathing straws. If you have ever tried to breath through a straw you will find that it's actually quite difficult.
There's math involved here that I don't remember from high school physics (turbulence, shear and maybe a Reynolds something or other) but the jist of it is that resistance to flow through a tube increases as the diameter decreases and the length increases. In fact the increase may even be exponential.
So I think it might be difficult if not impossible to move a sufficient amount of air through a 20ft, 1/4in tube to sustain an adult human.
That said, it's easy to pick holes in someone elses theory when having not proposed one myself. Nice work folks, congratulations on the win.Posted by MShield on January 10, 2007 at 00:07:25 Pacific Time
- Using tent poles as breathing straws
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I think the physics involved also has something to do with the volume of lung capacity, and the volume inside a 20 ft tube. Essensially, you wind up asphyxiating on your own CO2, since the volume inside the 20 ft tube is less than your lungs.Posted by co2 on January 10, 2007 at 13:19:24 Pacific Time
- Using tent poles as breathing straws
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EDIT: MORE than your lungs.Posted by co2 on January 10, 2007 at 13:21:11 Pacific Time
- Using tent poles as breathing straws
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The solution is to breath in through the tent pole and out into the pit.Posted by breyman on January 11, 2007 at 07:51:09 Pacific Time
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