|
Announcing the Third Annual Western Kentucky Physics Olympics
by Richard Gelderman
 On Saturday, February 21st,
2004 the WKU Dept of Physics and Astronomy is inviting each high
school in the region to send one or more teams of four to compete in
the Western Kentucky Physics Olympics. The Western Kentucky Physics
Olympics will be every bit as much fun as it will be educational.
The Lord of the Rings is the theme for this year’s
Western Kentucky Physics Olympics, a half-day competition consisting
of a pentathlon of challenging problem-solving activities that reward
teamwork, creativity, and communication. For the Least Massive
Tower each team will design and construct a 1.5-meter tall tower
capable of supporting a 1 kg mass for at least 20 seconds. The
Seige of Osgiliath competition requires each team to design,
construct, and use a small siege engine capable of hurling projectiles
over a wall to hit a target. Travels of the Ring Bearer – a
vector navigation problem is the Calculation/Communication Challenge,
requiring two members of the team to make a series of measurements and
the other two members to use that data to calculate the desired
result. The final two events -- the "On-the-Spot Activity", a mostly
hands-on, impromptu challenge, and the "Order-of-Magnitude Quiz", a
brain teaser which asks contestants to quickly estimate answers for
extreme situations -- will remain cloaked in secrecy until those
events actually begin.
Teams must register before the closing date of February 12 using
the form at
http://physics.wku.edu/olympics/.
Least Massive Tower – the Do-Ahead Project
There are some amazing towers in Middle Earth – Minas Anor, Minas
Ithil, Barad-dur, and Orthanc (which two are the Two Towers?). The
goal of this competition is to design, build, and bring to the
competition the lowest mass 1.5-meter tower capable of supporting 1
kg. There are no restrictions on the material with which the tower
may be constructed, except that no kits or pre-fabricated
construction materials are permitted. A hook or eyelet must be
provided and the tower constructed to allow the tower to be
suspended from a balance scale to measure its mass before its
ability to support the 1 kg is demonstrated. Towers that support the
mass for 20-seconds will be receive a ranking order based on the
mass of the tower. The judges’ subjective assessment of the tower’s
aesthetics will be used to break ties. The complete rules are posted
at http://physics.wku.edu/olympics/.
Siege of Osgiliath – the Plan-Ahead Project
The Steward of Gondor requires immediate assistance designing
siege engines to lead the counter attack and retake control of
Osgiliath. Sauron’s Orc hordes must be driven from the Citadel of
the Stars, but the rest of Osgiliath needs to be left undamaged for
the eventual reoccupation by Gondor. The goal of this competition is
to construct a siege engine (catapult, trebuchet, or mangonel) and
accurately launch projectiles from two distances over the simulated
ramparts of Osgiliath to hit a circular target representing the
Citadel of the Stars. The complete rules are posted at http://physics.wku.edu/olympics/.
Travels of the Ring Bearer (vector navigation) -
Communication/Calculation Challenge
Students will use teamwork, communication and calculation skills
to achieve the specified goal. Two members of the team will be
presented a set of measurements to make. The remaining two team
members will be presented with this set of measurements and be
required to compute the desired properties from the data with no
additional communication. Finally, the judges perform the test and
score the team's effort according to the announced guidelines.
Impromptu Team Physics Activity – Mastery of Impulse and Momentum
Activity is the key word for this competition, with the goal
being for each team to achieve the desired result as quickly as
possible. The situation is designed to reward teamwork and common
sense thinking as well as knowledge of physics. Every team will come
away with smiles and good memories regardless of how well they
master the particular challenge.
Order-of-Magnitude Quiz
Also known as Fermi Questions, arrive at a reasonable
approximation for the value of a complex situation with very little
to no information available to directly compute the answer. In this
quiz, the contestants will need to quickly make assumptions for
values to use in simple calculations in order to arrive at the
"correct" answer, stated as the power of ten of the number that fits
the accepted value. Teams will receive 5 questions to complete
within 15 minutes. Answers will be judged according to how many
orders of magnitude the team's answer is from the judge's solution,
the lowest score wins.
Examples of Fermi Questions include:
- How many electrons enter the starter motor when a new,
full-sized pickup starts?
- How many times would a tire of a Ford Taurus rotate when
driven from NYC to LA?
- Estimate the number of gallons used annually by all the cars
in the USA.
Students from Warren Central High School display their "Potato
Launchers" at the start of the 2003 Western Kentucky Physics Olympics.
The teams were coached by Doug Jenkins and Kenny Lee.
|
