Enceladus Moon: Volume, Rate and Scientific Notation

It turns out that there might be a large volume of water beneath the Surface of Saturn's Enceladus Moon, about equal in volume to Lake Superior and 245 times the volume of Lake Garda in Italy.

I am going to use this next year in conjunction with Scientific Notation. We can analyze what it means to be "about equal" in volume or "245 times the volume" of Lake Garda.

As an extension we will analyze a question that utilizes the context of the scenario. Using different types of models, we can attempt to answer the question: "is it worth it to extract the water?"

Students can start with simple calculations: how long might the water last us? how many bottles would it fill? Then they can progress to bigger questions: based on current technology, how much would it take to get there and extract the water.

Comparing these costs and gains might make for a nice debate (we will also include the typical Neil deGrasse Tyson argument on the connection between space exploration and the future of the economy).


Article Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26872184