2024 Western Kentucky Physics Olympics: Event Descriptions

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Forces Of Nature

Judges determine the overall winner based on each team's score in the five different events.

1. The Do-Ahead Project: 3D Tower Shipment
2. The Plan-Ahead Competition: Gravity Vehicle
3. The Communication/Calculation Challenge: Weak Force
4. The Impromptu Team Activity: Strong Force
5. The Order-Of-Magnitude Quiz

 

The Do-Ahead Project: 3D Tower Shipment

The goal of this event is to build a 3D tower which can withstand the shipping through the U.S. Mail and arrive in as close to the original shape as possible, when mailed from local post office to the following address (the shipment must arrive by Thursday, February 22, 2024):

Western Kentucky Physics Olympics   c/o Richard Gelderman                        1152 Turkey Creek Rd                      Union, WV 24983

(Shipments which arrive after February 22 will not be graded)

Rules: 

1. The 3D tower must be constructed using only standard round toothpicks (~6.5 cm long) and mini marshmallows (~1.3 cm diameter and height).
2. Teams are required to use exactly 30 mini marshmallows and 60 toothpicks to construct the tower, no more and no less than this amount.
3. Two dimensional layer of marshmallows and toothpicks does not qualify as a 3D tower. 
4. There can be no other materials or substances used, besides toothpicks and marshmallows, when building the tower.
5. Each toothpick can be connected to only two mini marshmallows at its ends, while each marshmallow can be connected to more than one toothpick.
6. Marshmallows can only be attached at the ends of the toothpick and nowhere else along the toothpick.
7. Teams must include a series of hard copy photos of the completed built tower inside the shipment box:
   1. photos from all sides and top view of the tower, before placing it inside the shipment box; and
   2. photo of the tower when looking down into the shipment box, when it is being prepped for shipment.
8. Photos listed in rule #6 are required to be shipped inside the box with the tower as they will be used to rank the teams based on the level of deformation of the tower from its original state.
9. Teams must also indicate the longest dimension of the tower and its length in the photos which are included in the shipment box.
10. Your shipment box must be bigger than 11inches by 8 inches by 7 inches and cannot be larger than 22.5 inches by 8 inches by 11.5 inches, which is standard rural delivery mailbox size.
11. The tower cannot be built such that it is supported by the shipment box, i.e. shipment box walls cannot be used to keep the tower stable, and the tower cannot be wedged between the sides, edges or corners of the shipment box.
12. No shipping materials such as packing peanuts, bubble wrap, paper, Styrofoam, or any other form of shipping material can be used inside your shipping box.
13. Your shipping box will only contain your tower and the hard copy photos of your tower in its original shape, as indicated in rule #6.
14. All shipping boxes will be opened by a judge who will unpack and rank the teams’ towers according to the following rubric: 20 points: appears identical, 17 points: appears mostly the same, 14 points: strong resemblance, 10 points: arguably related, 7 points: vaguely identifiable, 4 points: difficult to identify, 0 points: unrecognizable.
15. The number of toothpicks and mini marshmallows will be counted when the shipment box with tower arrives and use of more or less than the required amount will result in a reduced ranking position.
16. Wrong number of toothpicks and marshmallows puts the team's entry into a lower category, no higher than the lowest ranking entry that did have the correct number of components. Tower which is off by 1 component is higher than being off by 2 components, which is higher than being off by 3 components, etc.)
17. Any ties will be broken by ranking via the longest dimension of each tower (measured after the arrival of the shipment box).
18. All contestants will ensure that the construction and shipment of their entry works through the application of physics principles and generally follow the spirit of the competition.

 

Plan-ahead event: Gravity Vehicle

The goal for this event is to design and build a vehicle that uses only the energy from a falling mass to move itself along a straight track, stopping as close as possible to a terminal barrier without contacting the barrier.

1. Teams should design, construct, and test a vehicle to travel as quickly as possible any distance from 10.00 – 15.00 meters without leaving the 2.00-meter-wide lane and come to a complete stop as close as possible to the terminal barrier without contacting it. 
2. All energy used to propel the vehicle must come from a falling mass not to exceed 1.50 kg. Any part of the device whose potential gravitational energy decreases after the team initiates a run is considered part of the falling mass. The mass need not travel with the vehicle. To facilitate mass measurement, the device must be impounded with the mass detached.
3. When it is in the ready-to-launch configuration, the entire vehicle (including the falling mass) must fit into a 0.75 m x 0.75 m x 0.75 m cube. No part of the vehicle or its energy propulsion system may extend more than 0.75 m behind the starting line prior to the team initiating the run.
4. Energy from the falling mass may be transferred to other energy storage devices, but those devices must be in their lowest energy state prior to initiating the run. The vehicle may not contain any electrical/electronic devices.
5. Additional sources of mechanical energy may be used to stop the vehicle, however, it may not be remotely controlled or tethered in any way to guide it or to make it stop. The stopping mechanism must work automatically and be contained completely within the vehicle.
6. The only liquid substance teams may apply to the surface of the vehicles wheels is water provided by the competition coordinator. Substances may be applied to other parts of the transport provided they do not leave residue on the track and/or event area.
7. If used, the sighting/aligning device must be attached to the vehicle and/or energy propulsion system and remain installed during a run.
8. The competition will be on a straight and level 2-meter-wide lane marked on a relatively smooth, hard, low friction tile floor. A terminal barrier extending completely across the lane will be located at a randomly chosen distance between 10 and 15 meters from the starting line. The actual distance will not be announced until just prior to the start of the event, after all devices have been impounded.
9. The entire vehicle must be impounded before the start of the event and will be released from impound when the team is called to compete. Once teams enter the event area to compete, they may not leave the area or receive outside assistance, materials, or communication until they are finished competing. Each team has a total Event Time of no more than 10-minutes to make up to 3 official runs with their vehicle.
10. The time starts once the team has moved to the starting line, and ends when the 10-minute time expires, the last official run is complete, or the vehicle is deemed unable to compete. A run may be completed if the mass has been released before the 10-minute time expires. Once the vehicle is set up in ready-to-launch configuration on the track, the judge may pause time to verify construction. Once verification is complete the Event Time shall resume.
11. Students may not back up the transport device on or near the track to set the distance into the stopping mechanism. Teams may adjust their device, but they may not increase the falling mass once it has been measured.
12. Prior to the beginning of each run, the front of the vehicle will be placed even with any point along the width of the starting line. All of the vehicle's wheels must be on the floor at the start.
13. The Run Time starts when the mass or the vehicle is released and ends when the vehicle transport comes to a complete stop. Either the vehicle or the falling mass, but not both, may be held and released by the team to initiate the run. The mass and device may not be pushed or pulled to start it. All energy must come from the falling mass.
14. Once the team initiates the run, they may not control or touch the vehicle in any way until it has come to a complete stop. Participants may not be on the track until after the judge has completed all measurements.
15. Runs will be assessed one Run Penalty for each of the following:
    1. Any part of the vehicle makes contact with the barrier.
    2. Any part of the vehicle runs outside of the lane at any point of the run.
    3. The vehicle fails to travel at least one-half of the announced track distance.
    4. Any other event rule that does not have a specific penalty is violated.
16. One Construction Penalty will be assessed for each rule that is violated.
17. Teams will be ranked in three tiers using the single run (including run penalties and construction penalties for that run only) that will give them the best overall place (low score wins), where:
    1. Performance Value = sum of best two [Run Times (in seconds) + Stopping Distance (in cm)]
    2. 1st Tier: Runs with no Penalties will be ranked by their Performance Value.
    3. 2nd Tier: Runs with Run Penalties, but no Construction Penalties, will be ranked by: Performance Value x (# Run Penalties).
    4. 3rd Tier: Runs with Construction Penalties will be ranked by: Performance Value x (# Construction Penalties + # Run Penalties)

 

Communication/Calculation Challenge: Weak Force

Your team will divide into two groups. Two members of the team will be given information on particle interaction and The Standard Model of particle physics and will be asked to produce a written plan to allow the remaining two teammates to accurately determine and/or figuratively represent the given particle interactions in the shortest amount of time.

***For this event, please make sure that you have access to an electronic device such as phone, tablet or a laptop that you can bring with you and review a video during one part of this event.***

 

Impromptu Activity: Puzzling Forces

The instructions regarding this event are not released until it begins, so everyone is on an equal footing. 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. Every team will come away with smiles and good memories regardless of how well they master the particular challenge.

 

Order of Magnitude Quiz (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 10 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.