My brother wants to plant a time capsule with his students at the school where he teaches?

Question

He's asked me for advice! Can anybody give some information about time capsules please. They're going to dig it up in 30 years time. My suggestion of a constantly guarded mine shaft is probably good, but in reality, impractical. I'm also suspecting that the suggestion of a pickled calculator might not be taken in the manner it is intended. How do you make a biscuit tin, or whatever, last 30 years underground?

Answer 1

my school done this  they made up a question air  which had questions like what are your Favourite bands & films   who are you mates with and things like that  & we plan it in our first year and  dig it up in our last year    

Answer 2

I went to a Christian festival some years back and a 'time capsule ' was buried.

It was a clay pot; very large, I would suggest your brother does the same, that is, use a clay pot.

I am not sure how it was sealed though, but I wouldn't have thought this to difficult, it could be corked and then some kind of tar poured over it.

Answer 3

Melchize has a great suggestion - clay pots can last years and the cork is unlikely to be attacked. Is a coffin a bad-taste idea (it will last!). An old car from a scrapyard? "Black box" flight recorder?

Answer 4

Get his students to collect as many little packets of Silica Gel [Anhydrous] from all there gadget boxes.

Heat them in an oven on a low heat for say 30 mins.  They will shed any moisture.  Place them in a sealable plastic bag let out as much air as poss and seal.

Use the gel packs to draw up moisture from any boxes or bags archived.

In 30 years even USB sticks will have changed as the latest specs are in the process of ratification.  They won't stay backward compatible for long. So digital storage is probably unlikely to work unless you store a whole pc with specific details of any batteries needed to get them up and running again [remove any from the pc whilst archived]  Detailed instructions on setting up any BIOS etc would be needed.   An old Pentium based machine would do.

However, any DVD or CD would need to be individually sealed and must be of archive quality too.

To protect paper use archive quality Acetates and seal them.