2002 Physics Olympics

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The Year Of The Egg

Egg Mail:  the Do-Ahead Project 

The object of this Do-Ahead Project is to design a container in which a raw egg can be sent through the U.S. Mail and arrive intact at:

Western Kentucky Science Olympics
c/o Prof. Richard Gelderman
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Western Kentucky University
Bowling Green, KY 42101

1. The egg must be a raw (uncooked) Grade A large chicken egg, unaltered in any fashion.

2. The egg may be covered by tape or another coating which is easily removable.

3. Pack the egg in the smallest container possible (smallest volume, smallest mass).

4. Within the package, enclose the egg in a leak-proof container or plastic bag.

5. The size of the package must be bigger than 5 inches by 3 inches (according to US Post Office regulations) and smaller than 6 inches by 5 inches by 8 inches (such that it can fit into a standard rural-style mailbox).

6. Using the U.S. Postal Service, mail the packaged raw egg to the designated address for arrival on or before Wednesday, February 6th, 2001. Late deliveries will not be judged.

7. All packages will be opened by the judges on Thursday, February 7th, 2001. A judge will unpack and remove the egg from all containers and wrappings. The egg must be unblemished, naturally colored, with no cracks or damage evident. An egg which is damaged in the normal process of removing it from its containers/wrappings will be judged as having failed to survive.

8. Each team's score is calculated as the sum of points awarded for the egg's survival (0 to 50) and the product of volume (cm³) and mass (g). In case of tie scores, the amount of postage will be considered (less is better). The team with the lowest score wins.

9. All contestants will ensure that their entry works through the application of physics principles and generally follows the spirit of the competition.

 

Egg Catcher - the Plan-Ahead Competition

Teams do the strategizing and construction ahead of time for the Plan-Ahead Competition, arriving at the event ready to compete with their apparatus. For 2002 each team must design and build a stationary, inanimate, and unattended device that will safely catch an egg dropped from increasing heights.

The object of this Plan-Ahead Project is to design a device that will catch a raw egg, dropped from increasing heights, without breaking the egg.

1. There are no restrictions as to the size of the catching device other than it must fit through a normal-sized door when fully assembled.

2. The catching device must be inanimate, stationary, and unattended during the testing. No electrically powered or inflating devices may be used. If such devices are part of the assembly, they will be considered as part of the mass for scoring.

3. Each team will be allowed two minutes to set up and position its device.

4. Each team will decide the initial height (greater than 1-meter) from which the raw (uncooked) Grade A large chicken egg, unaltered in any fashion, will be dropped. If a catch is successful, the team may request that testing continue from a greater height.

5. Each team's score is calculated as the maximum height from which the egg is dropped without breaking divided by the height of the catching device (measured to its highest point above the floor).

6. All contestants will ensure that their entry works through the application of physics principles and generally follows the spirit of the competition.

 

Laser Zap - the Impromptu Calculation/Theory Problem

Students will use teamwork, communication and calculation skills to guide a laser beam around an obstacle and hit a target. Three members of the team will be presented with a collection of optical components and must use the appropriate physics concepts to calculate a plan to redirect the laser beam around an obstacle and hit the target. The fourth team member follows the team's written instructions to set up the components with no additional communication. Finally, the judges perform the test and score the result. For this year's Problem, the first three team members have 10 minutes to measure the setup and 20 minutes to produce the written plan for accomplishing the task. Then the written plan is handed to the fourth team member, who has 10 minutes to execute the instructions. Finally, the judges turn on the laser and score the team's effort according to distance from target. The lowest score wins.

 

Impromptu Team Physics Activity

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.

 

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.