I am a parent volunteer trying to facilitate a school science fair project. Specifically, do you think that ultrasound could be used to measure ice thickness on a lake (ice on water)? are there any other more appropriate techniques (besides drilling holes)? Thank you for your advice.
Mary Twombly, Evergreen, co
On 22 Feb 2007 08:25:17 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com proclaimed to the world:
Ultrasound is used for this. It may be possible to use a cheap ultrasound tape measure from Lowe's or Walmart. The sensor will have to be touching the ice and have no air between it. Wetting it will help. These units have a minimum distance they will measure in inches. The unit would not read the ice thickness accurately because sound travels at a different speed. I don't know for sure if it will be less or more but the scale will just be off some. You can find the factor to multiply by to get the real thickness.
Another possibility would be a stud finder sensor but the electronics are not set up to measure distance or thickness.
The speed of sound in ice is much higher than in air, so the minimum distance will be larger. Bubbles in the ice may cause inaccuracy.
jerry
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thank you for your response! Mary
thank you so much for your repsonse! Mary
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