Table of Contents
Guide
Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing
Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.cherrylakepublishing.com
Reading Adviser: Marla Conn, MS, Ed, Literacy Specialist, Read-Ability, Inc.
Photo Credits: Adam Hellebuyck and Michael Medvinsky/Cover, 1, 7, 18; voyata/Shutterstock.com, 5; Mike
Prosser/flickr, 8, 27; Reece Bennett/flickr, 9; Ecuadorpostales/shutterstock.com, 11; Gordon Wrigley/flickr, 13;
fiz_zero/Shutterstock.com, 15; ANDREA DELBO/Shutterstock.com, 16; Bernhard Klar/Shutterstock.com, 17;
mrwynd/flickr, 19; Phils Mommy/Shutterstock.com, 21; Agus_1899/Shutterstock.com, 23; MaggiCraft/
flickr, 24; MoreGallery/Shutterstock.com, 25; Bananinha God/flickr, 26; Noah Easterly/flickr, 29
Graphic Element Credits: Ohn Mar/Shutterstock.com, back cover, multiple interior pages; Dmitrieva Katerina/
Shutterstock.com, back cover, multiple interior pages; advent/Shutterstock.com, back cover, front cover, multiple interior
pages; Visual Generation/Shutterstock.com, multiple interior pages; anfisa focusova/Shutterstock.com, front cover,
multiple interior pages; Babich Alexander/Shutterstock.com, back cover, front cover, multiple interior pages;
Copyright 2019 by Cherry Lake Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hellebuyck, Adam, author. | Medvinsky, Michael, author.
Title: Moving water in Minecraft: Engineering / by Adam Hellebuyck and Michael Medvinsky.
Description: Ann Arbor : Cherry Lake Publishing, [2019] | Series: Minecraft
and STEAM | Audience: Grade 4 to 6. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018035561| ISBN 9781534143142 (hardcover) | ISBN
9781534139701 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781534140905 (pdf) | ISBN 9781534142107
(hosted ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Groundwater flow--Juvenile literature. | Irrigation--Design
and construction--Juvenile literature. | Water and architecture--Design
and construction--Juvenile literature. | Minecraft (Game)
Classification: LCC TC176 .H45 2019 | DDC 794.8/5--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018035561
Printed in the United States of America
Corporate Graphics
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
People design things almost every day. If you have a new
aquarium, you might have an idea of what you want it to
look like. You might plan out how you want to arrange your
fishs furnitureor even build a few pieces of your own! Youll
have to work with the available space and the necessary
equipment, like the water filter or heater. You might sketch all
these ideas out.
The process of planning, building, and joining ideas and
objects together is called engineering. People who do this for
a living are called engineers. Engineers take ideas through
phases. They have a dream, they brainstorm ideas, and
they design the best idea they come up with. They then
prototype and get feedback. Depending on the feedback,
they either redesign the prototype or go back to the drawing
board with a new dream or idea.
You may have found yourself going through a similar
process when creating and building in Minecraft .
Lets take a look at some ways you can
use engineering ideas from real life to
improve your building skills in the
world of Minecraft .
There are many different and unique aquariums all around the world.
CHAPTER ONE
Irrigation: Ways
to Move Water
Water is an important part of both the real world and in
Minecraft . In the real world, water is needed for survival. Its
needed for growing food and staying clean. Not all places in the
world have easy access to water. Because of this, people have
been figuring out how to move water from one place to another
for thousands of years. When water is moved from one place to
another to water crops, it is called irrigation . Irrigation systems
were some of the first engineering projects and one of the
worlds biggest accomplishments.
There are specific engineers who work together to think
about how projects change the land around them. Environ
mental engineers work with designers to make sure their
actions and creations do not have a negative impact on
the environment. This collaboration may impact how a
prototype is designed. Who can you work with to help make
environmental decisions in Minecraft ?
Having an irrigation system both in Minecraft and in the real
world is important.
To keep predators away, you can build a moat around your home.
In Minecraft , water is used for many reasons. It is used to create
new blocks, like obsidian, stone, and cobblestone. It can be used as
an elevator to move things up or down. Water can even be used to
trap mobs, animals, and monsters! And just like in real life, you
can build an irrigation system in Minecraft to water your crops.
In the real world, there are two ways to move water from one
place to another for people to drink. It is moved underground
through pipes that carry the water to fountains and underground
tanks. Or water is carried above ground in aqueducts . Big cities
like New York City and Los Angeles use aqueducts to bring in
water from the mountains and rivers in the countryside. Some
aqueducts can be miles long. The longest aqueduct in the United
States spans about 440 miles (700 kilometers).
A zombie that sinks in water will transform into a drowned, a different
type of zombie.
Before electricity, people relied solely on gravity to bring
water to them. Engineers back then built large structures that
sloped downhill so that the force of gravity could help water
flow across long distances. In Minecraft , water also follows
gravity. You may have seen water travel downhill several blocks
when it is poured. You may also have seen waterfalls following
gravity. How might you use this idea when building in the
game? Can you use it to build your own aqueduct?
When designing irrigation systems and aqueducts, engineers
dont just think about changing the location of the water. They
also have to think about how their structures change the
environment. For instance, in real life, animal and plant life
may be negatively affected if too much water is moved from one
place to another. Like us, they need water for survival.
You may have experienced this in Minecraft as well. Have
you ever poured out a water bucket on a field filled with grass
and flowers? You may have noticed that the water washes away
all the grass and flowers. This is an example of how your actions
in the game can impact the environment. The same thing can
happen if you change the flow of water in Minecraft . Test this
out. Try changing the direction of a river or a lava pool. Hint:
Think like an engineer. Use the steps described in the
introduction and in Chapter 2.
Early aqueducts, like the Cantalloc Aqueducts in Nazca, Peru, are still being
used despite being built about 1,500 years ago!
ENGINEERING
There have been engineers who designed tools for moving
water that defy the laws of gravity. They wanted to make water
move up to higher places instead of down to lower ones. One
of these designers was a man from Greece named Archimedes.
Archimedes invented what is known today as the Archimedes
screw. The device was made up of a long pipe and a screw.
When the screw was turned, water moved up the pipe.