Planetary Olympics Overview

1. Planetary Olympics Overview Concept and goals Exhibits Potential extensions

2. Impetus for Innovation • The Scenario: Earth is invited as participant to the 400th Planetary Olympics • The Challenge: To design and create an exhibition to train prospective athletes: educate them about environmental conditions affecting sports

3. Sporting on Outer Worlds: The Concept • sport-playing is influenced by environmental conditions • gravity, wind speed, etc • each planet has different conditions • unique planetary conditions may suggest a particular sport • exhibits demonstrate effects of each planet’s conditions on their assigned sport

4. Goals • Target audience: everyone! • Explore the relationship between sport and environment • Discuss conditions on individual planets • Encourage visitor participation • Relay accurate scientific concepts and information

5. Exhibits Gravitation Venus – badminton Moon – basketball Mars – rock climbing Gas giants - gliding

6. The Gravitational Field – Exhibit Design • Force of Gravity • visitors lift sports balls of different masses • represent the same ball subjected to different gravitation • Acceleration due to Gravity • visitors throw objects with different air resistance • falling speed represents different gravities

7. The Venusbird—Badminton • Atmosphere: much CO2  high density & viscosity • Gravity: ~90% Earth • Shuttlecock shaped to produce great drag  Highly influenced by atmospheric conditions • Slower shuttlecock travel on Venus • Outcomes: • less demand on reaction time • more force required to hit shuttlecock

8. The Venusbird – Exhibit Design • Demonstration: • Transparent, sealed display casings with different air pressures; visitors press a button to launch shuttlecocks and observe trajectories • Fluids of varied viscosity through which the visitor tries to drag objects to experience shuttlecock / racquet drag

9. The Moon • 1/6thEarth’s gravity (1.64 m/s2 ) • Covered with craters • Extremely thin atmosphere • Outcomes: • No air resistance (less energy required to play) • Craterous terrain provides a challenge due to curvature • Low gravity enable easier jumping, movement, and ball-throw

10. The Moon – Exhibit Design • Demonstration: • Gravitational pull simulated by basketballs of different weights • Basketballs filled with different amounts of water • No water = Moon • Water = Earth • A lot of water = Jupiter

11. The Red Planet – Rock Climbing • Very harsh surface conditions • Lower density than Earth (0.7 - 0.9 kPa) • Gravity is 38% that of Earth • Atmosphere consists 97.2% of carbon dioxide • Outcomes: • Easier to climb due to lower gravitational pull • Terrain – Mountains • Olympus Mons • 27 kilometers above the mean surface level of Mars

12. Mars – Exhibit Design • Demonstrate to visitors how much easier it would be to rock climb on Mars than on Earth • Demonstration: • Create upwards pull on the rope and harness designed to simulate gravity • Another possibility: “Mars” wall is slightly slanted • Consists of a rock climbing wall (scaled down 1/3)

13. Galing Gas Giants • High winds • Fluid surface • Similar conditions • United into one exhibit represented by Neptune Gliding

14. The Glider of Neptune -- Gliding • Highest wind speeds in solar system: up to 2000 km/h • Great temperature gradient between core and outer cloud tops • weather is unstable • Gliding uses glider (i.e. unpowered aircraft); competes for distance and speed • Outcomes: • Higher net air speed & more thermals  more lift, covers greater distance • Unstable weather  turbulent ride

15. The Glider of Neptune – Exhibit Design • Demonstration: • Live-sized sailplane model, in which visitors sit, simulate glider movement and Neptune sight on screens • Mini gliders behaviour when subjected to various wind conditions (from fans manipulated by visitors )

16. Potential Extensions • Supplementary exhibits • “make your own sport” • equipment • physiology • expand gas giants • Unrealistic • anti-gravity chamber • wind tunnel • pressure simulations