Nature’s Fury-First Lego League

1. Nature’s Fury-First Lego League Group 4 Chris Brown Joshua Sevrin Jose Larena Filip Malinowski Thomas Breen

2. Community Our community for this project is Hoboken. There has been many claims of floods, and people’s valuables have been ruined. We have found a solution to this problem.

3. Hoboken, NJ

4. Specific Question How can we prevent the people of Hoboken, New Jersey, from their homes and the valuables in their homes from being ruined by floods?

5. Data for Problem Hoboken is one of the few cities that are being funded by the Rockefeller foundation. There flooding was so severe that they were one of the 8 cities funded. Hoboken also has a 200 year flooding problem that is ongoing. Flooding problems are still continuing. To prove this, nearly 15,000 residents in Hoboken are still facing power outages. Broken pipes have been fractured by flooding, which has left Hoboken residents with contaminated water during Hurricane Sandy.

6. Current Solutions There are a few solutions to help solve the flooding problem in Hoboken. One of the solutions are flood pumps. This machine pumps out flood water, and will prevent houses from flooding. Another solution is that they are building dams to also prevent the flooding. A pump is not ideal because it is slow and moves water to another place. Dams cannot be built everywhere and are expensive Flood Pump

7. Solution For our solution, we have decided to use the material called Spectra-Cloth. We would like to enhance this invention by wrapping it outside of the house. The Spectra-Cloth can withstand a Category 5 hurricane, and it is waterproof, making it a good contender for protecting a house. If we use this Spectra-Cloth, it will help protect the house, and its valuables. This cloth contains a thick layer of bullet-proof material, and strong fibers than help the material withstand strong hurricanes. We have also created an experiment to prove that this solution is the best.

8. Data for Solution We have made an experiment using the spectra-cloth and surrounding it with a Lego house. We think that the spectra-cloth will prevent the house from being destroyed. We then used a high-powered fan to see if the Lego house will survive from the harsh winds of a hurricane. We believe that the spectra-cloth will stabilize the house with its extra hard material. We then put the Lego house, and the spectra-cloth in a tub, where it would be surrounded by water. We then needed to see if the spectra-cloth will prevent the houses from flooding. According to each of the trials that we did, the spectra-cloth was able to protect the Lego house, and only two Lego blocks fell from the wind. As for the water, the spectra-cloth held up, and left only a capful of water from a Poland Spring water bottle. This proved that the spectra-cloth is a cheaper and a more efficient way of protecting people’s homes and the valuables inside their homes.

9. Expert: Andy Our expert for this project is Andy. Andy went back into Hoboken during the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy. He has an office job there, and he has a lot of knowledge and experience of flooding in Hoboken. With his experience with living in Hoboken, this may help us gain a better perspective of how residents live in these conditions. Andy has given our group valuable information of his experience in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. He explained to us how bad the flooding was to people, and how it severely affected them.

10. Share To share our solution, we created a website. It is called http://hobokenfloodingproject.weebly.com. This website explains the flooding problems in Hoboken, and we also further explained the solution to the problem, by giving them a link of where to buy the spectra-cloth. We think that if we have more views from people, the word will spread, and the solution will become more successful in the future. As of 12/9/13, our website has exactly 150 views. We are planning for more views, at least 1,000 views.

11. Debate Q1: Why not use a flood pump to help solve the flooding problems in Hoboken? A1: A flood pump will get rid of the water, but it wont help to protect the resident’s valuables. It also won’t take out, or extrapolate all of the water. Leaving most of the residents valuables wet and destroyed by water. Q2: Why not use dams to help solve the flooding problems in Hoboken? A2: First of all, dams are way too expensive. Hoboken won’t be able to create a dam that will surround Hoboken. That would be too much money and time wasted. What would happen when a flood occurs during the building process of a dam? The dam would be destroyed, and would have to be re-built. Also, a dam will wear out at some point. This will cost more money for repairs. The spectra-sloth is a cheaper alternative. Should we use Flood Pumps? Should we use Dams?

12. Bibliography http://www.hobokennj.org/departments/environmental-services/storm-flood-zones/ http://www.fibermaterialsinc.com/product/spectra-900-1000-fabrics/ www.hobokenfloodingproject.weebly.com http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/24/2814241/hoboken-flooding-climate-change/ http://hoboken411.com/archives/16680