WKU's Department of Physics & Astronomy hosts the 2021 Western Kentucky Physics Olympics as a virtual competition over two Saturday mornings, March 20th and March 27th. High school students are invited to register as teams of four to compete via Zoom in this pentathlon of challenging problem-solving activities that reward teamwork communication and creativity.
The 2021 Physics Olympics competition will commence at 9 a.m. 20 March with two of the five events. The first activity, Measuring Inertial Mass, challenges teams to design, construct, and test up to three devices to measure the inertial mass of small objects. The devices get created before the competition, and their ability to function is judged on the initial Saturday morning. That first half-day concludes with the "Calculation / Communication Challenge," a virtual Escape Room activity, Black Hole Probe Recovery. This challenge tests each team's ability to be the first to solve multiple visual puzzles and challenges required to unlock the rewards.
After a week of improving and testing their devices designed and constructed to measure the inertial mass of small objects, the Unknown Mass event rewards teams that can demonstrate ability of their device to accurately determine the mass of unknown masses which have been delivered in sealed boxes to each team. The "Order-of-Magnitude Quiz" requires each team of four to work together to arrive at a reasonable approximation for the answer to each of the given complex situations with very little to no information available to directly compute the answer. This year's Impromptu Team Activity is a second virtual Escape Room, Forces of Nature.
Online pre-registration is required. Teams must register online before 4pm, Thursday, February 18, 2021 Monday, March 15, 2021.
A $600 scholarship to attend Western Kentucky University will be presented to each contestant on the top scoring team. The scholarship is to be used during the freshman year and is awarded above and beyond any other scholarships the student might otherwise earn. Medals for the team members and a plaque for the school will be awarded to the top 3 teams in the overall competition. Certificates will be awarded to the top three teams in each event.
| Saturday, March 20 Activities | Time | Saturday, March 27 Activities |
| Mandatory check-in for all teams | 8:45 | Mandatory check-in for all teams |
| Measuring Inertial Mass - Judging begins | 9:00 | Unknown Mass - Judging begins |
| Black Hole Probe Recovery - Event begins | 10:15 | Order-of-Magnitude Quiz |
| 10:30 | Forces of Nature - Competition begins | |
| 11:45 | Awards Ceremony |
Please see the Events Description page for a complete listing of the official rules for each event.
If you have questions please check our Frequently Asked Questions list or email your question to Richard Gelderman.