One of the class assignments was to do some research on Death Valley and present to class. While I was going through millions of webpage on Death Valley , the topics on sliding rocks really interested me. Sliding rocks can be only spotted on racetrack playa, which is considered as one of the flattest surface in the world. The interesting thing about the sliding rocks is that they actually slide across the playa surface without any manual help. If we look at a picture of the sliding rocks, you can see an obvious sliding trail that follows the rock. The rock doesn't just move in horizontal or vertical, from the trail, sometimes they even make turns during the sliding.
The assignment for our project is to utilize racetrack playa as an environment and experience different things with it. The project for my idea is actually the opposite from the assignment ¨C taking racetrack playa back to the environment we live in and present it. Basically I'm trying to build a virtual racetrack playa in my kitchen and use the materials that similar to the ones on the playa. The purpose is to see the different interaction of the virtual racetrack playa interacts with the environment and space we live in now.
I just want to state clearly, that my main goal is to transfer the playa back to the space that I'm living in right now. Also I'll be doing the experiment for the theories in the environment that I'm in, too. I'll try to present it as realistic as possible. The materials that I'm using are not from the playa (since it's against the law to take stuff from the Death Valley ). I'll be using the mud and dirt that professor brought for me from another camp. The mud that professor brought for me has similar characteristic compare to the ones on racetrack playa. Then I got different size of rocks from home depot stores and also metal rods that was used in the ice-floe theory. I also used ice case to put ice in water and then freeze it to ice. This represents the rocks that are wrapped in ice in the ice-floe theory. Also I borrowed a big capacity blower which creates the Ħ°windĦħ that's mentioned in the wind theory.
Because I don't have much mud brought from the camp, so I decided to use other materials to test drive and build the playa first to see how it goes. Everything went well except I realized one thing when I actually did the project is that the material I picked before all have smooth surface. It is actually not the case for the mud that collected from the camp. The mud are in different shapes, some are very big and rough, the others are small and smooth.
I used a small box to present the playa since I have limited resources. I then cut a hole on the side, to let the big capacity brower's tube to go through. It represents the wind that's blowing on the playa. However, once I put the mud into the box I realized that the project is not going to work. It is because the mud are in different shapes, sizes and roughness. It does not create a flat surface as it was on the racetrack playa.
Thus, the rocks on this rough surface will difinitely not move or slide. Even with the big capacity blower. That is because the friction between the rock and the surface are too big and over power the blower. So I decided to wet the mud and hoping it can dissolve. I can then smear it into a smooth surface. However that didn't work either, because the mud doesn't fully dissolve. It is still in it's big chunk size after I wet them with water. Below is the result after I wet the mud. Some dried up really fast after I put them out on the balcony.
Although, the experiment wasn't successful, but I had great time at the racetrack playa. Here are some pictures that I took on the playa.
