Answers to the Nerdy Thing

[susie_flo]

Hello,

For anyone who did the brain teaser thing that I posted earlier...   here are the answers and scoring instructions
(The lower your score, the better you did)


Answers (NASA rankings)

1. Two 100 lb. tanks of oxygen   (Most pressing survival need.  Weight is not a factor since gravity is one-sixth of the Earth's – each tank would weigh only about 17 lbs. on the moon)
2. 20 litres of water (Needed for replacement of tremendous liquid loss on the light side)
3. Stellar map (Primary means of navigation – star patterns appear essentially identical on the moon as on Earth)
4. Food concentrate  (Efficient means of supplying energy requirements)
5. Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter  (For communication with mother ship - but FM requires line-of-sight transmission and can only be used over short ranges)
6. 50 feet of nylon rope  (Useful in scaling cliffs and tying injured together)
7. First aid kit, including injection needle  (Needles connected to vials of vitamins, medicines, etc. will fit special aperture in NASA space suit)
8. Parachute silk  (Protection from the sun's rays)
9. Self-inflating life raft  (CO2 bottle in military raft may be used for propulsion)
10. Signal flares  (Use as distress signal when the mother ship is sighted)
11. Two .45 calibre pistols  (Possible means of self-propulsion)
12. One case of dehydrated milk  (Bulkier duplication of food concentrate)
13. Portable heating unit  (Not needed unless on the dark side)
14. Magnetic compass  (The magnetic field on the moon is not polarized, so it's worthless for navigation)
15. Box of matches (Virtually worthless -- there's no oxygen on the moon to sustain combustion)

Scoring instructions:

For each item, your score will be the difference between your group answer and NASA’s answer. For example, if your answer was 9 and the correct answer was 12, your score for that item is 3. Add these together to get a total score.

If you did the group exercise, caoculate your average personal scores by totalling all the individual scores and dividing by the number of team members.  Compare the average individual score with the group score.


Rating Scale:
0 – 20    Excellent
20 – 30    Good
30 – 40    Average
40 – 50    Fair
Over 50    Poor


Discussion
If you did well, why do you think this was? If you didn’t do so well, what could you have done better?
Did you find the task difficult or easy? Why?
Did any members stand out as particularly bossy; good at negotiating; too compliant; apathetic?
Did you go against any of the guidelines (mentioned in Part 2) at any point? If so, why?
Does this exercise remind you of any situations or problems you’ve encountered at work?

Comments

[zoo-music-girl.livejournal.com]

23. My big mistakes were that I ranked the life raft too low, not realising they meant it came with a gas canister, and I ranked the heating unit too high. I suspected it wasn't needed on the light side, but thought some other things were even more useless. I didn't know you could fire signal flares without oxygen.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

You did better than me -I scored 28.
My mistake was that I thought that neither the flares nor the gun would fire on the moon. I also thought that the powdered milk would be a bit more useful than the food (I thought it would provide sustenance and water in one hit)

[zoo-music-girl.livejournal.com]

I didn't think the guns would fire on the moon either, but I knew the matches and compass were no use, and ranked the life raft low (thinking the lack of air would mean there was no way to inflate it) so I wasn't that far off their proper placement in the end.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

I agreed with you on all if those (...it was other members of my team who argued that the raft would come with it's own air canister)

[chiller.livejournal.com]

Hm, a tragic 42 because of putting the portable heating unit very high on the list as I assumed space would be cold (forgot about the sunlight, bugger!).

I ranked matches too highly and the first aid kit too low. I am now dead, on the Moon.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

On the bright side, at least you didn't have to drink powdered milk :-)

[chiller.livejournal.com]

I was sort of convinced they'd put that in on some sort of fiendish MacGyver basis, ie: it is the only known substance to burn without oxygen or forms the world's strongest glue or something (obviously it wouldn't be the oxygen one, but this is NASA! They know stuff I don't). But no. It was plain old powdered milk. Ew.

[steer.livejournal.com]

Why would we want to tie injured people together? Hmm... apart from for cruel amusement.

I was overthinking and going "hold on, but you can't open your space suit to eat " -- but they probably put special holes in the space suit for that very purpose.

[kissmeforlonger.livejournal.com]

Oops! 59. Would have helped if I'd known the compass wouldn't work!