Ug. This discussion reminds me of one of my intro to engineering course projects last fall. Groups of about 6 people had to design a water filter out of natural materials to purify very muddy water. It was a problem I had a lot of trouble solving. After we used several different designs and techniques we thought we had it right, but we didn't even come close to the other teams. That project killed my interest in filtration engineering. I didn't think it was nearly as fun as the
bridge project.