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Report: The Great Wall- Can you push it?

The Great Wall is an exhibit that meets all the requirements to be featured in the Ontario Science Centre's future Human Limits Hall. This exhibit will scientifically prove how an adrenaline rush improves strength. The Great Wall exhibit is engaging for all age groups including children, teenagers, and adults. The exhibit is also wheel-chair accessible, enabling disabled guests to also participate. Up to three people can participate in this exhibit at one time which allows for collaboration. This exhibit is designed to have two walls two metres apart from each other. The visitor will place their hands on the first wall and push as hard they can to make the wall move back. The wall will require a good amount of force to move because it will have resistance. The wall will calculate how much force the visitor exerts on the wall as well as the heart rate of the visitor. After 20 seconds, the second wall will gradually move in closer to induce stress on the visitor. The visitor will think that if they don't push the first wall, they will get squished by the second wall. The second wall will never actually squish the visitor since it will also have a sensor. Once the second wall senses any physical contact, it will stop moving. The wall that the visitor is pushing will identify any changes in the visitor's heart rate after the second wall moves in closer as well as any changes in the amount of force the visitor can exert. The visitor's heart rate and strength will most likely increase when the second wall moves in closer. At the end of the exhibit, the visitor's scores and heart rates will be revealed to the visitor as well as the science behind their results.

The Great Wall exhibit is designed to stimulate the visitors fight or flight response, which is a defence mechanism __the human body__ employs in stressful or dangerous situations to either combat the situation or escape. During this situation, an organism experiences an “adrenaline rush” which immediately causes the acceleration of the heart and lungs to allow more circulation of blood and the constriction of blood to the digestive system as well as other organs that won’t help the organism fight or escape. Furthermore, blood vessels in muscles dilate and senses are also heightened. This exhibit will focus on heart rate and the “feats of strength” one can perform as a result of this rush. The increase in strength is caused by a __number__ of reasons inclusive of the dilation of the blood vessels which allows more oxygen to enter muscles thus allowing them to work more efficiently. The skeletal muscles, the muscles that hold the tendons to your bones, are also activated allowing the person to lift heavy weights with less effort. Adrenaline then signals glycogen (stored energy) in your body to break down into sugars that can be __used__ as energy.

The wall the visitors push against will have built in sensors to measure the visitors’ individual pulse rates and the total amount of force the visitors are pushing with altogether. The pulse rate monitors will be built in throughout the wall to detect any pulses through their hands, and monitor if there are any significant changes in performance. The wall will use a pressurized system or hydraulics system which contains a very slightly compressible liquid to give the impression that they can push it back. The amount of force with which the wall pushes towards them will be calculated by how much force the guests are pushing on the wall with, so that they will either barely be able to push it back or not be able to push it at all. After a period of time, the wall behind them will start to close in as well, in order to scare the visitors forcing their adrenaline to be released. The pulse monitors will still be monitoring any changes in their pulse. Similarly, this wall will have touch/contact sensors built in to ensure that the guests inside the exhibit will not be injured.

The Smartphone can be used in the exhibit to enhance fun alongside learning. Photos of the visitors will be taken at three different stages: when they first start pushing the wall, when the second wall comes towards them, and when the thrill is about to end. This allows the different reactions of the visitors to be captured at the different intervals. At the end of the experience the photos will be presented to them on the screen with a code. If they have a Smartphone, they can tap their phones onto the sensor and receive the pictures. If they do not have a Smartphone, they can still access the pictures online at the OSC website by entering the code. The code system ensures confidentiality in case the visitor has conservative views. They can also download the awesome app from the OSC website through which they can customise their pictures. For example, they can Photoshop their photo to make it look as if they are pushing something other than the wall, for instance pushing against the Leaning Tower of Pisa so that it doesn’t fall or fighting against a monster! The app will also enable the visitors to share their photos online or print them.

The Great Wall exhibit will have a score record board that will show the visitors’ scores and the highest score reached by a visitor/group. This score will be based on the amount of force applied on the wall. The score board will encourage individuals to push past their limits and get the highest score that they can. In order to do this, they will keep coming back to the exhibit. If the individual/group exceeds the highest score, they can enter their name, if they wish, and their score will be used as the new record. Also, since our exhibit creates an adrenaline rush, visitors will encourage their family members and friends to try the exhibit just to watch them get a panic attack. Visitors will also share their experience through media by uploading the pictures they received from our exhibit, which will encourage others to come to the Science Center and try out the exhibit themselves. This exhibit will be a great addition to the Human Limits hall at the Ontario Science Centre as it is engaging, collaborative, and informative. It is an exhibit that will be very memorable to visitors at the Science Centre.

Group Meetings Log: Record __the date__, what we did in the meeting,any homewok that we've decided, and things that we need to follow up on (new problems that have arised, details we need to work on, etc.)

Scanned Notes from the last two meetings:
 * Date || Topic || Homework || To Do ||
 * Feb. 27 || First meeting: Brainstormed ideas || Research ||  ||
 * Feb. 29 || Brainstormed ideas ||  ||   ||
 * March 1 || Meeting with Kate || Read the article sent by Kate ||  ||
 * March 6 || Editted the proposal ||  ||   ||
 * March 7 || Proposal due ||  ||   ||