2004 Physics Olympics

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The Lord Of The Rings

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.

1. 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.
2. The height of the tower must be between 1.450 and 1.550 meters.
3. The tower must support the 1-kg mass for 20 seconds without collapsing nor appreciably shrinking by more than 10% of the original height.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.).
8. 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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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).
4. The projectiles, regulation size and weight racquetballs will be supplied by the judges.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. The ranking will be determined by the sum of the best score for each of the two attempts at each distance.
11. 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
12. 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.

• Download Excel Trajectory Spreadsheet Calculator (770 KB).

 

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.