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Tasks
Have fun and enjoy yourself is the only requirement!
Below you will find the tasks for the 2006 Physics
Olympiad at UConn. Feel free to use them in your classroom as a
resource, a lab or as training materials for next year's Olympiad.
We have added some comments from our task mistresses and masters.
If you have any questions, please contact
us.
Elliptical Target (aka Stop the Mad Scientist)
Objective
Well, it was bound to happen. Late last night, one of our most
brilliant scientists, Dr. Nolan the Large has finally lost his
rocker. You see, Nolan was supposed to attend the “Super
Mathematician and Revolutionary Thinker”, or SMART conference
which took place in China this year. But alas, in all of his hard
work and preparation, Nolan missed the deadline to submit his
travel forms to the department, and now he has no way of getting
to the conference. He was depressed for days, and this depression
was worsened by the failure of his favorite baseball team, the
New York Mets. Even his fantasy baseball team was losing. Poor
Nolan.
But then, from out of his office I heard a scream, EUREKA! Nolan
has discovered a way to get to the conference afterall. You see,
my friends, Nolan is quite athletic and quite in shape, and can
walk for miles. Now, although he cannot walk directly to China,
he has realized that if he used enough kinetic energy, he can
walk his way through the Earth itself and arrive in China! Thus,
he has been walking outside the physics building here at UCONN
furiously through the night, and has not shown one bit of tiring.
We must try to stop him. For as we all know, although he does
possess some of the prowess of the Incredible Hulk, he would surely
not survive walking through the core of the earth. But Nolan has
a temper, so we cannot just attack him, or he will destroy us
all. However, like all super-humans, he has a weakness. Yes my
friends, Water. If we can hit him with a localized burst of water,
we can surely stop him without consequence. Now, this is not as
easy as it sounds, because if he sees us coming, he will make
us pay! Thus, we must attack from above.
As I said, we cannot get too close, thus using only a simple measuring
device, you must make an estimate as to the average velocity of
Nolan’s laps to China, as well as the height of the physics
building. Using this information, you must determine when to drop
a water balloon onto his head to stop him (how long after the
beginning of his lap). Do not worry, if you hit him, he will not
become violent, but he may curse in which case we will feed him
some candy. We can only allow you three shots for your personal
safety against this determined scientist. Good luck friends!
NOTES:
1) You are only allowed 3 drops…use them wisely
2) You must drop using the dropping mechanism, which must be at
least 4 feet above guard rail, and over guard marker.
3) You will receive points based on your estimates, so please
do them carefully.
4) You should have 3 measurements in total, Height, balloons time
of flight, Nolans lap speed.
Grading Procedures
1) Collect all data from students
2) Students receive 1 point for each piece of data correct (3
points max)
3) 2.5 points are awarded for direct hit (ballon hits nolans head)
4) 1 point awarded for a grazing hit (hits nolans swinging arms,
feet)
5) .5 points awarded for a splash hit (water splashes and hits
Nolan)
6) Record final scores
Materials
75 small water balloons
5 rolls of kite thread
1 pair of scissors
11 ALL WOODEN hockey sticks or broom sticks or some kind of large
wooden stick (do not have to be the same, in fact better if not
the same)
10 stopwatches
5 assorted balls (basketball, hockey, baseball, tennis, does not
matter)
Comments
The test balls fall at a different speed than the balloons do.
Snap Crackle Pop
Objective
As we all know, there is a hug issue in this country with the
way that we consume daily products. Our great society is unfortunately
based on a “use once and throw away”, or single serving
attitude. Think of all of the examples that we use, between paper
cups, Styrofoam plates, fast food containers, and many more. But
it does not stop there. Many of the products we use in everyday
life come in exorbitant packaging and are made from non-recyclable
materials. This leads to an enormous problem in terms of waste
management across the country. Where can we put all this waste
with all the Urban Sprawl?
So my friends, we have a very simple task on hand. We want to
design a more efficient packaging for breakfast cereals. Latex
balloons provide a good candidate for the new packaging as the
material is biodegradable, and it expands, so when there is no
cereal left, the packaging is minimal. So this sounds like a great
idea (aside from the fact that we may no longer be able to include
a toy with the cereal, or run games on the back that no one reads
anyway). So, please provide us with an estimate of just how much
of our cereal we can fit into this new package. Use whatever means
necessary (except liquefying or adding liquids, no-one likes soggy
cereal) to see how efficient our new package will be.
Notes:
1.) You will be given a balloon with which you must put as many
Rice Krispies into as possible.
2.) You have access to many potential tools to facilitate this
process.
3.) When you think you have filled your balloon with as many Krispies
as you can get in, call a Judge over to your area.
Grading Procedures
1.) Using a known value of balloon material weight (as determined
during the prep), measure the weight of the krispies + balloon
via a balance. Subtract off the known value, and record the krispie
weight.
2.) Olympians should not be crushing the rice krispies, if seen
doing this issue a warning, if it continues, disqualify them.
Materials
Rice Krispies Galore
2 straws
1 empty soda bottle
3 rubber bands
1 pair of scissors
3 sheets of paper
Masking tape
1 garden trowel
10’’ of string
1 funnel
1 white board marker
3 paper clips
2 index cards
3 Skewers
Comments
Allowing students to mash the krispies is not a good idea.
Beware of the cleanup involved in this task.
Count on about 2 packs of krispies per group.
Legos for Big Kids (aka Spreading the Brick Plague)
Objective
There is no way to avoid it, but every year it seems like the
more vaccines we make, the more mutated viruses appear in our
world. Once again this is the case, as a terrible disease called
Philo-Influencia-Sophistica is spreading. The president himself
said that there could not be any more dangerous virus for our
country than this one. It seems as though once one person is infected,
they become overwhelmed with thought, and soon enough, all others
around them are doomed! Our very society as we know it is being
threatened!
Despite how we feel, on the “brick” of being infected
ourselves, we must find a way to contain the problem. Now, our
top scientists have shown that the spreading of this disease comes
in a very strict and rectangular pattern. Thus, we wish to know,
that once it is airborne, how far can it grow in 10 days? So my
friends, here is our task. In front of you are 10 bricks that
show how far the disease can travel in one day. We want to see
the farthest the Airborne (minimum of 1 brick height off the ground)
virus will spread. Be diligent and be creative, as we need to
know how far the disease, once airborne can travel. Be well and
godspeed!
Notes:
1.) You will be given 10 bricks, and only 10 bricks to work with.
2.) You must use these bricks to ultimately create a structure
that that extends across the other side of line.
3.) You may only have bricks touching the ground on ONE side of
the given line.
4.) When you think you have your best structure, call a judge
over.
5.) The judge will measure the horizontal distance from the line
to the furthest hanging brick.
6.) Your bricks must hang at least 10 seconds during the horizontal
measurement for it to count.
7.) The team who has the longest horizontal distance will take
first place in the Bricks task, with the 2nd longest taking second
place, and so on.
Grading Procedures
1.) Measurements will be done in centimeters
2.) The line will be a piece of tape, so the measurement will
be made on the side edge of the tape closest to where the bricks
touch the ground.
3.) In measuring the furthest point of the bridge, look for the
clearest point that’s furthest and go from there. If it
is unclear, use your best judgement.
Materials
10 bricks per group
Comments
Watch out for toes.
Add string or rubber bands to make it more exciting and spice
things up.
Clip to be Square (aka. Gravity vs. Magnet)
Objective
Today folks, the match we have all been waiting for. The fight
of the century, the battle of the giants, the clash of the titans,
the be all to end all…who will win, who will be able to
have bragging rights as the “Strongest” Force in nature…the
world will soon find out!
Introducing first, in the red corner weighing in at extremely
small masses. A force so powerful it was once thought to be two
separate forces. The ultimate singular tag-team, who packs a wallop
with charge, has the capacitance to take down even the mightiest
of foes, and the resistance against all who try to stand in its
way, the current regaining champion, The Electromagnetic Force!
And in the Blue corner, weighing in at an immense mass, the challenger.
The menace that bombarded Newton with apples, Einstein with black
holes and Astronomer’s with Dark Matter, the force that
not only holds the moon to the earth, but your feet to the ground,
that binds the universe, and defines our notion of up and down,
the force that all the fans are “falling for”, the
elusive, the geometric, the very fabric of space and time itself…The
Gravitational Force!
Well, although the battle of these two forces might very well
result in the destruction of not only the earth, but the universe
as a whole if the two were to really “battle”. Luckily
for us, There is a much simpler way to settle once and for all
who is stronger. We can all see how strong gravity is by just
picking something up and drop it. Can a simple nail pick up paper
clips alone? No it cannot, but if we introduce a force, the electromagnetic
force into the nail, we may be seeing quite different results.
Thus, it is your objective to make an electromagnet. One strong
enough to pick up the paper clips in front of you. Depending on
how you choose to make it, you will be able to pick up more and
more clips. Once you think you have the strongest magnet possible,
call over a judge and we will tally how many you can lift.
Note: We are looking for how many clips you can pick up in a
single trial, so be sure to test before you call over a judge.
Be creative, and the clips must be picked up by the magnet only.
Grading Procedures
1.) Judges will count how many paperclips the team can pick
up using the electromagnet.
2.) Paperclips cannot be physically attached to the magnet, they
must be picked up via magnetism only.
3.) Paperclips can be attached to each other, if they think of
it.
Materials
1 9Volt Battery
1 Hobby Battery
1 D-Cell Battery
3 feet of coated copper wire
3 feet of copper wire
3 feet of aluminum wire
1 foot Ethernet wire (CAT5)
1 iron nail
1 aluminum nail
1 pair of wire cutters/strippers
1 roll of electrical tape
100 paper clips
Comments
Batteries get VERY hot. Use alligator clips if you can to avoid
touching the batteries and the leads with your bare fingers.
Huff Puff (aka Paper Bridges)
Objective
You and your group have been selected to design a new prototype
for an ant bridge. These bridges will be designed to fit into
the latest in state of the art ant farms. Now this is no small
task. Remember that ants are hard workers and can walk long distances
while carrying multiples of their bodyweight. Thus, it is of the
utmost importance that after a hard days work, all the ants get
home to their families safe.
Using the materials at hand, it is up to you to give the design
of this ant bridge. You will be scored on the following…multiply
the amount of weight by the distance (in 1-dimension) in which
the bridge spans, and the bridge must support its final weight
for more than 5 seconds without collapsing. Please note that the
bridge must be free standing as well (no hands to support it).
When you are ready to be judged, signal the judge over. There
is no minimum amount of weight, or maximum, and the same goes
for the length. Good luck friends!
Note:
Each group will only have access to 2 sets of materials, so that
you can get 1-trial run and 1 real bridge. To receive the second
set of materials, you must submit all unused materials to the
Staff, and they will distribute the new set.
Grading procedures
1) measure the span of the bridge in centimeters
2) Recod total weight supported by the bridge
3) Multiply the span length times the weight and record this number
4) Scores are comparisons of the above number
Materials Needed
printer paper 8.5x11
small index cards
paper clips
masking tape
sets of lab weights
scissors
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