Events for the 2004 Western Kentucky Physics Olympics
A team of judges will determine the overall winner based on each
team's score in the five different events.
Event 1: Least MassiveTower – 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.
- The height of the tower must be between 1.450 and 1.550 meters.
- The tower must support the 1-kg mass for 20 seconds without
collapsing nor appreciably shrinking by more than 10% of the original
height.
- The tower must have a platform on the topmost surface, capable of
holding a 1-kilogram cylindrical mass with dimensions no larger than
10-cm diameter and 2.5-cm thick.
- 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. A panel
of judges will measure the height and mass of the tower.
- One competitor from the team will be directed to place the 1-kg
mass while a judge keeps track of the time to ensure the tower
supports the weight for at least 20 seconds.
- Towers that successfully support the mass for 20-seconds will be
receive a ranking order based on the mass of the tower. Ties will be
broken according to the judges’ subjective assessment of the tower’s
aesthetics (construction quality, decoration, etc.).
- All contestants will ensure that their entry works through the
application of physics principles and generally follows the spirit of
the competition.
Event 2: Siege of Osgiliath – the Plan-Ahead
Project (revised on 01-21-2004)
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.
- Each team may enter one siege engine, designed, constructed, and
operated by the team members. There is no weight limit for the siege
engine and no restrictions on building materials. There are size
restrictions however; it must fit through a standard size door, it
must be able to safely fire within the 3-meter tall rooms in the
physics building, and its base must be less than 0.75 meters on a
side. The siege engine must be designed and built by the team members,
no kits are permitted. There must be no question as to the safety and
quality of the siege engine. Entries which are deemed by the judges to
be unsafe will not be allowed to launch any projectiles and will
receive a score of zero.
- The siege engine must be powered solely by stored mechanical
energy. The use of chemical, electrical, steam, geothermal, nuclear,
or internal combustion powered devices are explicitly prohibited. The
launch must be achieved by means of a trigger to allow team members to
walk away from the siege engine for up to 30 seconds without
releasing. The only aspect of the siege engine which may be altered
during the scoring period is the release angle of the projectile.
- The siege engine will be tested from two distances, 2.25-meters
and 4-meters from the center of the rampart wall. The center of the
target will be 1.25-meter from the 0.75-meter tall inside edge of the
rampart wall. The maximum height for any projectile’s flight is
limited by the room’s 3.25-meter tall ceiling. The siege engine will
be located within a rectangular launching area with dimensions of
2-meters across (along the direction of the rampart wall) by 1-meter
deep (perpendicular to the rampart wall).
- The projectiles, regulation size and weight racquetballs will be
supplied by the judges.
- Each team will be given up to five minutes to make two practice
throws and any required adjustments. The scoring round consists of a
total of four attempts, two each from two distances, within 10-minutes
and starts immediately after the 5-minute practice round. Any
projectiles not launched by the end of the 10-minute period will be
recorded as 0 points.
- A previously identified team member will be responsible for
clearly announcing each launch attempt just before it is made. After
the team announces the impending launch, any projectile which leaves
the siege engine, no matter what the intention of the team, during the
10-minute scoring period will be counted as a scored launch and will
receive the minimum score of 5 points. No score will be recorded for
any projectile that leaves the siege engine prior to an announcement
of an impending launch.
- Projectiles cleanly clearing the wall receive a minimum score of
10 points. The launched projectile must clear the ramparts on the fly
without touching any part of the wall.
- The target will consist of four concentric rings. The 50 point
zone extends to a radius of 10 cm from the center. The 40 point zone
is between 10 cm and 20 cm, the 33 point zone between 20 cm and 30 cm,
the 25 point zone between 30 cm and 40 cm. A projectile which lands on
the dividing line will receive the lesser point value. The point of
initial contact will be determined by the judges for scoring purposes.
- Safety goggles must be worn by all team members entering within a
three-meter circle surrounding the launch point. The penalty for
violation is immediate forfeiture for the event. Guests/spectators
will not be allowed within the 3-meter zone.
- The ranking will be determined by the sum of the best score for
each of the two attempts at each distance.
- Each team is required to establish the projectile’s “muzzle speed”
as it leaves the siege engine and to predict the maximum distance that
their siege engine should achieve. Judges will measure the actual
speed for the four launches during the scoring round. The accuracy of
the team’s muzzle speed prediction will be used for the first level of
tie-breaker. The maximum flight prediction will be tested if a second
level of tie breaker is required
- All contestants will ensure that their entry works through the
application of physics principles and generally follows the spirit of
the competition.
Spreadsheet for Siege of Osgiliath [added to site on 01/25/2004]:
To assist teams in designing their siege engine we have created a
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that simulates the geometry of this
competition and graphs trajectories that will successfully hit the
targets. This spreadsheet uses the basic equations of kinematics for
projectile motion. It is a 770 kilobyte file so it will download over a
fast internet connection reasonably quickly but very slowly on a dialup
connection. If you click on the link below it may, depending on your
browser and availability of Excel on your computer, automatically
download and then open the file in Microsoft Excel. If you simply want
to save the file you may wish to right click on the link and choose Save
Link As... When you first open the file in Microsoft Excel you will be
asked if you wish to "Enable Macros" for this file. Of course this is
something that you should normally be wary of because a malicious user
can embed viruses in a macro. However, in this case the macro is a
necessary part of this spreadsheet and it is safe to enable macros for
this file. If you have any problems downloading the file please contact
Dr. Doug Harper or
Dr. Gordon Smith in the WKU
Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Event 3: Travels of the Ring Bearer (a vector
navigation problem) - the 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.
Event 4: 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 and the ability to work with formulae.
Every team will come away with smiles and good memories regardless of
how well they master the particular challenge.
Event 5: 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. The
teams can divide the work in any way they see fit, but only one answer
per question per team will be accepted.
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 -- 0
points awarded for the answer accepted by the panel of judges, with 1
point scored per order of magnitude from the accepted value.
Examples of Order-of-Magnitude Quiz 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 of gasoline used annually by all
the cars in the USA.
|
