2020 Physics Olympics

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Vision Physics

Overview

WKU's Department of Physics & Astronomy hosts 20/20 Vision Physics Saturday, February 22nd in Kelly Thompson Hall. High school students are invited to register as teams of four to compete in the Western Kentucky Physics Olympics. This half-day competition consists of a pentathlon of challenging problem-solving activities that reward teamwork, communication and creativity.

The 2020 Physics Olympics competition will commence with two activities that involve teams arriving at the event ready to compete with entries they have designed, constructed, and tested. Hiding a message in a colorful background is the goal for Color Blindness, with judging based on how hidden the message is with normal vision, and how accurately it can be retrieved when viewing through colored filters. Puzzles get created before the competition, and submitted for judging the morning. Droplet Lens Magnification is a challenge that requires each team to design, construct, and demonstrate a microscope using a drop of liquid for the magnifying lens.

This year's "Calculation / Communication Challenge" is titled Corrective Optics, requiring each team to divide into pairs, with one pair devise configurations of corrective optics for various situations and the other pair to follow those directions to make use of the needed corrections. The Visionary Escape Room is this year's "On-the-Spot Activity" and will test each team's ability to be the first to solve a multiple visual puzzles and challenges required to unlock the rewards. The "Order-of-Magnitude Quiz" will remain cloaked in secrecy until the day of the event.

 

Do-Ahead Event: Color Blindness

For this event, each team will create three visual messages that are only revealed with the use of colored filters.

A common test for an individual's deficiency in the perception of color consists of a pattern of dots of various colors randomized in size and color. For those with standard color perception, a numeral (the example at left will show a 6) is readily apparent, but is hidden to those who cannot perceive the color being tested for with that image.

We are challenging teams to create a puzzle which functions as the reverse situation from a color blindness test. For the image at right, for instance, those with standard color perception should see an orange bear, a pink stag, a red rabbit, and a pink squirrel. However, someone with red-green color blindness (or viewing through a cyan filter) will not see the bear at all; instead of a stage, a blue cow will be seen, as well as a blue fox that is not visible to someone with standard color perception.

A direct example for the goal of this event is the use of colored filters to hide a "secret reveal" message. Viewing the image at left through a red filter allows you to see an invitation. The image at right, when viewed through a blue filter, allows its hidden message to be seen.

Use different filters to view these images, and a number of other images you can find on the internet. Note that one choice of filter can make certain colors go white, another filter can make the same color go black, and a third can change that color to another color.

1. Each team shall create three visual puzzles, such that the message is NOT visible to someone with normal ability to perceive color, but which can be viewed when looking at the image though one, or a combination of, filters specified (and supplied) by the team.
2. Each image's message(s) must be hidden via the use of color. It is not permitted to make use of polarization, or other observable properties of light, to reveal or to hide the message.
3. For the purposes of this event, there will be six recognized colors of filters: red, green, blue, yellow, cyan, and magenta. Teams obtain their own filters, and bring them to the competition.
4. Bring to the competition each team's three images and all of the filters used to reveal the hidden messages. These shall be place in a container labeled with the team name, and submitted for judging by 8:30 am, at the close of registration.
5. Overall ranking for the event will be based on the highest cumulative score. For each submitted image, points will be earned as listed below. Judges have discretion to adjust points by +/- 2 points when the performance is better or worse than the standard.
   1. Various hidden messages appear, depending on filter(s) used for viewing - 18 points
   2. Hidden message appears in multi-color when using the specified filter(s) - 15 points
   3. Hidden message appears as non-greyscale when using the specified filter(s) - 12 points
   4. Hidden message appears as greyscale when using the specified filter(s) - 9 points
   5. Message is not hidden, but using specified filter changes image - 2 points
   6. Message is not hidden, and using specified filter produces no change - 1 point
   7. There is no message - 0 points
   8. Previously hidden message appears
6. In case of tie scores, the total number of filters required to reveal all three of the team's images will be considered (more is better, with a maximum of six). If a second tie-breaker is required, higher ranking will to the team with the most images where alternate messages are visible when viewed through different filters.
7. All contestants will ensure that their entry works through the application of physics principles and generally follows the spirit of the competition.

 

Plan-Ahead Event: Droplet Lens Magnification

A drop of water can be used as a magnifying glass, and the images below are demonstrations of the power of using simple techniques for a microscope.

{From left to right: salt crystals, water flea, cycloptoid, green algae, butterfly leg, and a dime.}

Each team will construct a single convex lens microscope that uses a drop of some liquid for its magnifying lens and use this microscope to complete the following tasks.

1. [100 points possible] Submit via e-mail to olympics@physics.wku.edu:

1. 1. 1. at least three digital images of your experimental setup as it is being operated, taken from different points of view to clearly show the relevant features of your design, along with a written description of those features;
      2. separate images of five distinct objects, demonstrating your microscope's magnification, to earn for each image a score from 0 to 5 points for each of four criteria as follows:
         1. lighting quality, sharpness and clarity of the image
         2. judges' subjective assessment of interest and aesthetics of image
         3. choice of object to demonstrate scale, based on features and/or structure
         4. demonstrable calculation of the size scale visible in the image

2. [75 points possible] Bring your device to the competition and be prepared to demonstrate its ability to magnify three different objects provided by the judges.

1. 1. 1. Each team shall design and construct a single convex lens microscope that uses a drop of some liquid for its magnifying lens. The team provides all aspects of the device. The liquid shall be non-toxic and shall not pose any safety threat. No device that in any fashion poses a safety threat will be allowed to compete. The magnifying device constructed by each team must be submitted for a safety check by 8:30 on the morning of the competition.
      2. For the competitions, the organizers provide three objects for which the team will obtain a magnified image. The testing will take place in a classroom with normal illumination.
      3. Teams will be provided with the objects to be magnified by their device, and will then have forty-five (45) minutes to obtain a digital image of each resulting magnification of the objects and electronically deliver the three files as attachments e-mailed to the judges (olympics@physics.wku.edu).
      4. Scoring for this in-person phase of the event will be based on the judges' assessments of the following qualitative and quantitative criteria, demonstrating your microscope's ability to successfully magnify each of the three objects.
         
         Judges will award up to 5 points for the live demonstration of the team's ability to magnify each of the three objects, for a total of up to 15 points toward the final score.
         
         The delivered digital images will account for a total of up to 60 points toward the final score. The award of up to 20 points for each image is derived from scoring from 0 to 10 points for the following pair of criteria:
         1. lighting quality, sharpness and clarity of the image, and
         2. demonstrable calculation of the size scale visible in the image.

3. Final ranking will be determined by the accumulated score on these tasks. For teams with identical scores, ties will be broken according to the highest average magnification for the five images. If a second tie-breaker is required, the team achieving the greatest magnification for any of the five images will be ranked higher.

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

 

Communication/Calculation Challenge: Corrective Lenses

Your team will be asked to divide into two groups. Two of you will be take part in an introductory discussion of the causes and corrections for situations requiring optical correction to achieve normal eyesight. This pair's task is carefully note the important aspects and deliver to the other pair of their team clear instructions for their teammates to rapidly and accurately diagnose and demonstrate the correction for simulated optical defects.

 

Impromptu Team Activity: Visionary Escape Room

Activity is the key word for this competition, with the goal being for each team to achieve the desired results as quickly as possible. The instructions regarding this event are not released until it begins, so everyone is on equal footing. The situation is designed to reward teamwork and common sense thinking as well as knowledge of physics. Every team will come away with smiles and good memories regardless of how well they master the particular challenge.

 

Fermi Questions: The Order of Magnitude Quiz

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 9 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.