Proposal

Howmuchwood(orhowheavyofapieceatonetime)couldawoodchuckchuckifitwereto

chucka2x2x5pieceofwoodatm/s,ingrams.Weplantocreateananimatedprogramthat
calculatestheamountofwoodawoodchuckcouldchuckusingaclassbasedobjectsystemthatdraws
valuesfromaneasytounderstandHTMLbasedtextdocument,aswellasa2Dprintedmodelof
woodchuckanatomyincludingtheskeletalandmuscularsystems.

Summary
Haveyoueverwonderedhowmuchwoodcouldawoodchuckchuckifawoodchuckcouldchuck
wood?Forcenturiesthisriddlehastwistedtonguesthroughouttheworldandleftpeoplewondering
couldawoodchuckevenchuckwood?.Inourexperimentweplantoanswerthisageoldquandaryby
determiningtheamountofwood(statingthatwearemeasuringthesizeofonepieceofwoodnothow
manymultiplepiecesitcouldthrow)awoodchuckcouldchuck.Wewillbedesigningaprogramthat
takesintoaccounttheweightandmusclestrengthofagivenwoodchuckaswellasthedensityofthe
wood,andappliesittoshowjusthowbigofapieceofwoodawoodchuckcouldchuckifawoodchuck
couldchuckwood.Ourprogramwillbeinteractive,showingasimpleanimationofthewoodchucks
structurechuckingthewood.Theusercaninputcertainvariablesaboutthewoodchuckviaatext
document,whichcouldendupasanentirelydifferentanimalstructure.Theprogramwillthenillustrate
exactlyhowthewoodchuckwouldgoaboutthrowingwoodandalerttheuserofjusthowmuchwood
his/herwoodchuckwouldbecapableofthrowingbasedonthemusclevaluesandbonelengths
(influencestorque)..Ourprojectwillbegroundbreakingnotonlybecauseitwillanswerthepuzzling
tonguetwister(Imnotsayingithere),butalsobecauseitwilldemonstratehowpeoplecangoabout
researchingvariousfieldsofanimallocomotion,whichiscurrentlystilldeveloping,andprovideauseful
andeasilymalleableprogramwhichcouldbeusedtocalculateotheraspectsonotheranimals.
DocumentcreatedbyZoeMitchellandPhilipSteinerwitheditsbyDaisySharrock
CreatedSeptember25th,2014

Ourprojectwillconsistoftwomainparts.Firstly,ananimatedprogrambasedoffofaccurate
informationandthedataderivedfromanxmlbasedtextdocumentspecifyingthenumberofbones,the
lengthofthebones,thepositionsofthemusclesonthebones,andhowmuchforcetheycanexert.Lastly,
wehopetoprintadiagram.Ourmodelwillnotonlyhavethecorrectlysizedbonesaswellas
appropriatelysizedandnumberedmuscles.
Almostnoresearchhasbeendoneinthesubjecthoweverwefoundafewexamples.Thefirstone
wasastudydonebyPaskevichandShea.Itwascalled"TheAbilityofWoodchuckstoChuckCellulose
Fibers"andwaspublishedinthebook:
AnnalsofImprobableResearch,1995
.
SheaandPaskevichstarted
theirresearchbyfirstdecidingwhat
chuck
actuallymeant.Theycametotheagreementthat
chuck
meant
toeatratherthanthrowbecausewoodchucksdontgenerallythrowinnature.Theythengatheredasetof
woodchucksandstarvedthemfor12daysthenproceededtofeedeachonea2x4pieceofwood.Their
conclusionwasawoodchuckcouldchuck(oreat)361.9237001cubiccentimetersofwoodperday.
Therehasbeenalargeamountofresearchdoneontheskeletalanatomyofawoodchuckor
groundhog.Thisarticleincludesinformationonthespecificmeasurementsoftheskeletalandmuscular
makeupofawoodchuck,andincludesinformationonthebehavioralreproductiveaspectsofa
woodchuck.

Becausethemainbulkofourprojectismadeonthecomputer,mostofourmaterialsare
programs.WewillbeusingProcessing(www.processing.org)tocreateourprogramwhichusesour
formulatocalculatehowmuchwoodawoodchuckchuckswhilealsoanimatingit.
ToconstructourphysicalrepresentationwewillbeusingAdobeIllustratorCS3+tocreatethe
graphicstomakethewoodchuckdisplay.Thedisplaywillincludebonelengthsandwidths,muscle
strengths,andmuscleattachmentlocations.
Forthisparticularprojectwewillneedtoacquireavarietyofdifferentskillsaswellasuseones
wealreadyhave.Skillssuchasaadvancedknowledgeandunderstandingofcodinginprocessing(we

DocumentcreatedbyZoeMitchellandPhilipSteinerwitheditsbyDaisySharrock
CreatedSeptember25th,2014

alreadyhaveadecentknowledge,soitsnotstartingfromscratch).Forthiswehaveallottedourselves
multipledaystofamiliarizeourselveswiththeprogramanddifferentscripts.Wewillneedtohaveanin
depthknowledgeofhowmusclesworksuchasstresspointsandcaloriesburnedaswellaswhich
ones/howtheyareused.Sincethereisonlyonemainsourceforwoodchuckanatomywewillhavetodoa
lotofdiggingtofindtheactualspecificationsforwoodchucks.PhillipandIalreadyhavearounded
understandingofAdobe,whichwillcomeinhandywhenmakingthewoodchuckdiagram.

Belowisalistofpossiblecontactswefoundthatcouldbeusedasmentorsorresources.
1. Paula,mathematician
a. resourcetohelpusformulateangularforceequations
2. DukeAnimalLocomotionLaboratory:
a. Wehavealreadyemailed
daniel.schmitt@duke.edu
,andhehasaccepted.

Timeline

Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squarecube_law
squarecubelaw,describesrelationshipbetweenvolumeandtheareaasashapessizeincreases/decreases

DocumentcreatedbyZoeMitchellandPhilipSteinerwitheditsbyDaisySharrock
CreatedSeptember25th,2014

http://ep.physoc.org/content/96/5/539.full
relationshipbetweenmusclefibersizeandforce

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/groundhog/
basicinformationregardinggroundhogs

http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/2012/10/05/fridayweirdsciencehowmuchwoodcouldawoodchuckchuck/
anarticleabouthowmuchwoodawoodchuckcouldchuckoreat

https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/file/d/0B9hXnashPBQUemlNMDNaV3NiUWc/edit
giantdocumentoneverythingyouneedtoknowaboutawoodchuckandhisanatomy

http://www.cs.toronto.edu/pub/reports/na/MuscleSimulationSurvey.pdf
asurveyofmodelingskeletalmuscles

http://web.stanford.edu/group/rrd/Projects/01projects/zajac1.html
intramuscularcoordinationofmammalianmovement

http://people.stfx.ca/smackenz/courses/DirectedStudy/Articles/AnnRevBiomedEng2001.pdf
computermodelingofhumanmovement

http://www.musculographics.com/html/products/simm.html
musculographicsinc.:SIMMsoftware

http://www.gpb.sav.sk/1997/1997_01_29.pdf
computersimulationofmuscles

http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Musculoskeletal_Mechanics_and_Modeling
musculoskeletalmechanicsandmodeling

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1304672/
theforceexertedbymuscles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_striated_muscle
allyouneedtoknowonskeletalstriatedmuscles

http://yesteryearsnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/rabbitskeleton.png
aphotoofhowwewanttostructureourphysicalmodel

http://www.orkin.com/locations/branches/?zip=92116&submit=
OrkinPestControlwebsiteandcontactinformation(sourcinggroundhogcadaver)

http://www.wildliferemovalsolutions.com/CACalifornia/SanDiegowildliferemoval.html
SanDiegowildliferemovalservice(alsoforsourcinggroundhogcadaver)

http://animallocomotionlabduke.blogspot.com/p/publications_22.html
bookcitations

DocumentcreatedbyZoeMitchellandPhilipSteinerwitheditsbyDaisySharrock
CreatedSeptember25th,2014