Okay kiddo, so imagine you're at the beach and you're building a sandcastle. You scoop up some sand with a bucket and then pour it out to make your castle.
Now, imagine that instead of a bucket, there is a big machine called a dredge that is scooping up sand from the bottom of the ocean. The dredge doesn't just use a bucket though, it has a special tool called a drag head.
The drag head basically looks like a big metal funnel or scoop. It has a long arm that attaches to the dredge and reaches down to the ocean floor. As the dredge moves forward, the drag head digs into the sand and scoops it up, just like you do with your bucket at the beach.
But here's where it gets really cool. The drag head isn't just a scoop that picks up sand. It has special openings on the bottom that allow seawater to flow in. This creates an underwater current that helps to loosen up the sand and make it easier for the drag head to scoop it up.
Once the drag head is full of sand and seawater, it moves up to the surface and the seawater is separated from the sand. The sand is then dumped into a barge or onto a nearby beach to create more space or to prevent water from rising too high.
So there you have it, little one – the dredge drag head is like a big metal sandcastle bucket that scoops up sand from the bottom of the ocean and uses seawater to help make it easier. Cool, huh?