Last month, scientists discovered a mysterious metal monolith in a canyon in the Utah desert. No one knows yet who made it, and some unidentified people removed it a few days later. Another one showed up in Romania. A “monolith” is usually a large piece of stone, like the ones at Stonehenge, but this one was made of shiny aluminum or steel, joined together with rivets into a triangular prism. A lot of people think it was an art project. What do you think? If you made a piece of art, would you want people to know you made it? Why do you think it was a triangle?
You can make your own mini monolith with household materials.
For this activity you will need:
- A thin cardboard box, flattened
- A ruler
- Something to write with
- Scissors
- Glue
- Tape
- Aluminum foil
To make your mini monolith:
- Turn your flattened box blank side up. Pick a skinny side and measure how wide it is. Then measure and mark two more adjoining rectangles. Make sure they’re all the same size.
- Cut out the shape with your scissors. You should now have a piece of cardboard with two folds in it and three identical rectangles. Tape the edges together to form a triangle.
- Glue aluminum foil to the outside of your monolith. You can rub out any creases with the side of your pencil.
- Let the glue dry, then trim off or fold in the extra foil.
- Put your monolith somewhere dramatic and take a picture.