Click here
for the
current level of water in the Black Hawk Creek. At 15 feet
you'll need boots but can still access the
cache.
Bring
a Phillips screwdriver.To get the log container in your grasp I
went to a lot of work designing this "inquiry cache" so that
you don't need ANYTHING other than the (+) screwdriver (to get it
open), and use what is available in the cache. I did color code
some things. The log container may not become available on the
first try.
You may
understand why I chose the name and theme for this geocache if you
get at the log in the way I intend for you to do. The theme is:
what makes skeletal muscles work and the leverage they provide. I
myself have a passion for the sliding filament mechanism model but
my students think it’s far too complex to grasp, or maybe they
simply don't want to think that much.
The basic concept is simple however.
To move a bone in your body (a lever mechanism actually) a skeletal
muscle must shorten. To make this happen a great many microscopic
cylindrical cells must shrink in length. If each tiny muscle cell
shrinks by 30%, the entire muscle body which is made of those cells
will do the same, shrink by 30%. That way a tiny amount of
shrinkage at the cellular level may add up to several inches of
shortening of the muscle body.
The
animated graphic above depicts the sliding filament mechanism at
work. If you decide to lift your forearms, for instance, your brain
sends a signal (impulse) to the motor neurons which lead to your
biceps. The impulse almost instantly diffuses across the millionth
of an inch gap between the motor neurons and the muscle cells. It
continues by rushing along the skeletal muscle cell at lightning
speed, spreading into each cell along its length. At that moment a
high concentration of calcium ions rush out of storage and allow
zillions of one type of [unimaginably thin] filament to embrace
another even thinner filament next to it. Chemical energy (ATP)
then pulls the thinner filaments past the thicker ones in a
ratcheting fashion (see the animation). As a consequence, the ends
of the tiny contractile compartments in each cell are pulled toward
each other - hence the muscle shortens.
Many
muscles often have to pull much harder than we realize. To find the
coord of this geocache you will in fact have to estimate how many
pounds each one of my bicep muscles had to pull when I curled 152.5
lbs back in the day. Because the arm is a third-class lever, the
force pulling on the point of contact with the lever has to be more
than the force of the weight being lifted. The good thing about
third-class levers is that they allow for a wide range of movement
of the load end (in this case the hand) even though the muscle (in
this case the bicep) shrinks by a small amount.
To begin:
let’s say that each of my palms carrying a load of 76.25 lbs (half
of 152.5) was 14 inches from my elbow joint (the fulcrum). See the
figure below. Now lets assume that my bicep was inserted into
(attached to) my humerus 2 inches from the elbow joint. Knowing
these values we can now calculate how much force each one of my
bicep muscles had to pull on my skinny arms to curl that
weight.
Simply
multiply the ratio of the elbow to palm distance (A) over the elbow
to bicep insertion distance (B) times the load in each hand. Round
the answer up to the nearest pound and plug it into one of
the equations below to determine where the geocache really
is.
When you
find the cache you’ll have to figure out what the combination of a
lock is, then get the log out of its hidey hole. That’s a
requirement to make a “find” on this cache!! Good luck.
Equations
| A ÷ B x 76.25 lb = ______ ÷ 1000 = C (minutes
to add to the minutes of the bogus coordinate
below) |
| The latitude of the geocache = N 42 27.773 +
C = N 42 ___.________ |
| The longitude of the geocache = W 92 23.743 +
C = W 92 ___.________ |