MythBusters: Walking on Water Essay

Adam and Jaime are to conduct an experiment to see if it is possible to walk on water, but before they could begin their experiment they must have completed some research. They began by looking back into the history of the ninja and ancient Japanese myths, and then continued on to search for a modern day ninja. They discovered the â€Å"mizugumo†, which is a circular flat wooden disc that might have helped the ninjas stay afloat as they walked over the water. Description of experiment – Kelsey Alvarez (Ms. Garrity) The mizugumo is said to distribute the ninja’s weight evenly on the surface of the water because of the wide surface area. Due to this, the ninjas would not be able to sink. To make the mizugumos Adam decided to measure and cut 2 circles of pine wood. They were then each sliced into 4 pieces. Later, he painted the 4 pieces a shade of brown. When this was completed he sanded the paint off. When the 4 pieces of wood had that worn look color he proceeded to adding a rectangular block in the middle of the 4 pieces. He tied the 4 pieces and the block in the center with twine, repeating this step for each one. Adam has now created an exact replica of the mizugomos. When the footwear was complete they proceeded to the actual experiment. The twine that was left over was used to tie the mizugumos on to Adams shoes. Adam was now ready to â€Å"walk on water†, however, after taking his second step into the pool he sank right down. Jaime then explained that in order for Adam to walk on water he would have to be able to take very fast steps across the water. In Adams second trial at attempting to walk on water he decided to increase his momentum like Jaime suggested, and even with this done, he still sank right after the second step. Adam and Jaime then concluded that Mizugumos were actually a myth and were never actually used to walk on water. However, the team did not give up yet. Adam decided to make a pair of modern ninja shoes to test what it would take to actually walk on water. This time he used aluminum, a packing foam, and snow boots. In order to make this work he used the principle of water displacement. This principle states that an immersed object is maintained above water by a force that is equal to the weight it displaces. Adam continued to cut the shape of the boot on the packing foam boards and glued 4 layers of packing foam together with the snowshoes in the middle. In order for the foam shoes to not fall apart he covers them in aluminum sheets and tapes it on. He also adds a light rail in order to keep it firm. Before testing them out Adam paints the shoes entirely black. Using his aluminum shoes Adam is ready to test and see if he can walk on water. On his first trial with the shoes Adam walked too quickly and ended up sinking. On his second trial however, Adam gently stepped on the water and tried to gain his balance; he was finally standing! Although he was standing on the water, it was impossible to move forward. The team then concluded that the shoes could not be used to walk across the water. < Jaime’s cornstarch solution