WKU News

Western Kentucky Physics Olympics will be awarding medals on Saturday (Feb. 24) with students from area high schools on the podium. This year’s event will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Snell Hall and the new Ogden College Hall.

WKU’s Department of Physics & Astronomy is hosting 14 teams of science students representing five local schools for the annual half-day competition. Physics Olympics consists of a pentathlon of challenging problem-solving activities that reward teamwork, communication and creativity.

The 2018 Physics Olympics has competition commences with two activities that involve competitors arriving at the event ready to compete with devices they have designed, constructed and tested. For the Bomb Shelter event, teams will compete to test the four protective shelters they designed and constructed to keep an egg safe from a dropped baseball. For the Bomb Disposal Manipulator Arm event, each team constructs from plastic soda straws and sewing pins the longest possible arm to support the mass of the object to be defused.

This year’s “Calculation/Communication Challenge” is titled Molecular Assembly and will require each team to divide into pairs, with one pair writing a plan to be followed by the team’s other pair. The “Impromptu Team Activity” and “Order-of-Magnitude Quiz” will remain a secret until the day of the event.

Each member of the overall top scoring team will receive a $600 scholarship to attend WKU. Medals for the team members and a plaque for the school will be awarded to the top three teams in the overall competition. Certificates will be awarded to the top three teams in each event.

Contact: Richard Gelderman, (270) 745-6203