Virginia Science Olympiad: BUILDING EVENTS DIV B

Div B: Building Events Wright Stuff Elevated Bridge Battery Buggy Trajectory Junkyard Challenge

BASICS TO REMEMBER Each device should be clearly labeled with the team name and number All devices, except Wright Stuff, must be impounded Any student on the team may help build the device (new) ONLY COMPETITORS are allowed inside the competition area

BASICS TO REMEMBER Most importantly READ AND FOLLOW THE RULES! Most of these events have tier scoring and students will be moved to the 2 nd (or 3 rd or 4 th ) tier for not following specifications

NEW SAFETY REGULATIONS Under each event description there is now a section for “eye protection” followed by a number Descriptions of what these numbers refer to appear on the under “events” For most events the regular lab goggles with indirect vents will work (#4, ANSI Z87) For events with projectiles – Junkyard and Trajectory, #5 or high impact goggles/spectacles must be worn – that is they must be rated ANSI Z87+

Wright Stuff Students construct a monoplane to achieve maximum flight time

Wright Stuff Students can bring 2 planes for testing Total mass of the plane must be 7.0 g or more (without rubber motor) The rubber motor cannot exceed 1.5 g

Wright Stuff The horizontal maximum wing span is 40.0 cm The horizontal maximum stabilizer span is 28.0 cm The propeller must be a commercially made, 2 blade propeller with maximum diameter of 20.0 cm

Wright Stuff Scoring The scoring is determined by time the plane is in the air – the longest flight wins New: bonus points are awarded if the chord length is less than 7.0 cm or less than 6.0 cm A flight log is required – teams lose flight time if no log or an incomplete log is submitted

Wright Stuff Design Buy a kit and modify to meet specs – has a good one – 2 per kit Buy rubber you can cut yourself and a winder, you may even want rubber lube: m m Get large plastic bins to keep everything in

Wright Stuff Design Take kit plans, cover with wax paper, pin on foam board and then put packaging tape over the wax paper to seal to the board – the design pattern can be reused and the balsa wood and glue won’t stick to the pattern or board. Mylar is tricky to cut and rips easily – use a soldering iron to “melt away” excess

Elevated Bridge Students design a bridge with best efficiency up to 15 kg of mass will be tested

Elevated Bridge - basics

Important measurements: –Must span cm –Must clear 15x15 cm in center –Max height of 20 cm

Elevated Bridge - basics Other things to note: –No maximum wood size –Must be wood (no bamboo, laminates, etc.) –Must support 5x5x2 cm block on top mid-span –Must be impounded

Elevated Bridge - scoring The score is pure efficiency: Efficiency = mass held bridge mass Bridges that don’t meet specs are tested but moved to tier 2 Bridges that are untestable are in tier 3 and ranked by mass

Elevated Bridge - tips Balsa has best weight to strength ratio – order online for better pieces ( has good balsa, cutters, etc.) Glue adds the most weight – use sparingly Have students draw plans, cover with clear packing tape and work on top of plan Build 2 identical sides, then connect Keep everything symmetrical, level, square

Battery Buggy Teams will construct a vehicle that uses electrical energy as its sole means of propulsion, quickly travels a specified distance, and stops as close as possible to the center of the finish line.

Battery Buggy - basics The vehicle may use no more than 4 individual cells (labeled 1.5 volts or less each) or a single battery pack (labeled 4.8 volts or less) on the vehicle at once No more than 4 additional cells or one additional battery pack may be impounded for replacement purposes. Only energy stored in these batteries may be used to propel the vehicle.

Battery Buggy - basics The vehicle’s wheel base must be between 24.0 cm and 28.0 cm. The wheel base is the distance between the center of rotation of the front and rear axles. The vehicle’s track width may not exceed 19.0 cm. The track width is the distance between the outermost left side and the outermost right side of the widest part of a track that would be left in or on a surface by the vehicle’s tires

Battery Buggy - basics only the wheels may contact the track The vehicle must have a fixed, pointed object extending forward of all other parts of the vehicle including the wheels and to within 1 cm of the track's surface. sighting devices that do not use electricity are permitted

2010 BATTERY BUGGY – THE VEHICLE Wheel Base 24.0 – 28.0 cm Track Width < 19.0 cm Fixed Point: Forward of all other parts < 1.0 cm above track surface ≤ Four ≤ 1.5V batteries -OR- One ≤ 4.8V battery pack Batteries < 1.0 cm Track Surface MOTOR

Battery Buggy – the track Starting Line 5.00 m m Target Line Regional Increments:50 cm State Increments:10 cm National Increments:1 cm

Battery Buggy - basics students may start the device anywhere along the start line with the fixed point directly above it (there is a center line bonus if the center tape remains within the vehicle’s track) the vehicle must start by the touch of a pencil, pen, dowel, etc. – it may not be touched in any other way during a run as soon as the vehicle moves it is considered a run students have 10 minutes to set up and run 2 trials students may not follow the vehicle down the track

Battery Buggy - scoring lowest score wins score = time score + distance score + center line bonus (-20 points) the best score of the two trials is used

Battery Buggy - scoring Time Score: The Time Score is 20 X the Official Run Time (measured in seconds to the hundredth of a second) for the vehicle to move from the Starting Line to a complete stop. Example: Vehicle’s Run Time is 7.89 seconds seconds × 20 = points

Battery Buggy - scoring Distance Score: The Distance Score shall be the distance from the tip of the fixed point to the point at the center of the Target Line recorded in millimeters. Example: Vehicle stops 1234 mm from Target mm = 1234 points

Battery Buggy – scoring Determination of TIERS: Tier 1:Any runs with no violations. Tier 2: Any runs with run violations. Tier 3: Any runs with construction violations or both run and construction violations.

Trajectory Design & calibrate a catapult Data Collection Data Analysis

Trajectory - basics the entire device must fit within a 70 cm cube prior to testing the launching force must be supplied by a non- metallic elastic solids teams provide their own projectiles (a list of acceptable projectiles are in the rules) device + graphs + projectiles + anything needed to perform a launch must be impounded

Trajectory - basics the launch area is 1 m wide x 1.5 m long – the device can be placed anywhere inside the launch area the device must be triggered from outside the launch area – students may not touch the device or enter the launch area during a trial the device must stay within the launch area prior to and immediately after the launch

Trajectory - tips students should build early and test, test, test different projectiles need to be tested, different distances, and graphs need to be made consistency is key – the device needs to be lined up the same way every time some elastic solids lose elasticity over time; beware that replacement material might test different than the original

Trajectory - targets students have 10 mins. to make 2 launches at each of 2 targets targets will be set between 2 m and 8 m (at 1 m intervals for regionals,.5 m intervals at states) with at least 2 m between them and the nearest target will be placed up to 1 m off the floor (in 1 cm increments) students must announce which target they are aiming for before launch

Trajectory – bucket shot (new) after a first shot at a target, if the shot hits the target students may request a “bucket shot” as their second shot getting the projectile in the bucket has a big reward – up to 100 deduction points however, a bucket shot means no 2 nd shot for the original target, and if the scoring comes down to 3 rd and 4 th tiebreakers, teams with a bucket shot are ranked below the others

Trajectory – scoring Lowest score wins Score = Lower Close Target Area Score + Lower Far Target Area Score + Graph Score + Penalties – Bucket Shot Deductions

Trajectory – scoring Target scores are basically the distance between center of target and where the projectile actually hits in mm

Trajectory – scoring The graph score is easy to get if students just FOLLOW DIRECTIONS! There should be 4 graphs. Each graph-table pair must be on a separate sheet of paper and on the same side of the paper. Graphs and tables must be properly labeled. All variables and units must be identified. Each page must have the team name.

Junkyard Challenge Build a device to sequentially trigger four mousetraps in under 60 seconds

Junkyard Challenge - basics Must start by dropping a golf ball into the center point of the device Must trigger four mouse traps sequentially The center point of the device must be clearly marked Mouse traps and golf ball must remain unmodified –An unmodified mouse trap must keep all its working parts –May glue or screw a mouse trap to a base

Junkyard Challenge - basics All materials and tools needed to build the device must fit in a 40.0 cm x 40.0 cm x 60.0 cm when closed (lid must be on) Students have 30 minutes to set up the device on site, with no outside help or communication

Junkyard Challenge – in the box Must have: four “snap trap” type mouse traps, one unmodified golf ball Everything else you will need to assemble your device must fit in your box –Materials –Tools –Fasteners, tape, etc

Junkyard Challenge - tips Pre-make the device, and then take it apart in pieces to fit in the box Practice setting up and calibrating device out of box No gluing is permitted on site, but parts may be pre-glued Bring LOTS of extra tape!

Junkyard Challenge - scoring Highest score wins There are lots of points and lots of penalties in this event – read the rules! Ties will be broken as follows: 1. Fewest penalty points; 2. Longest time of operation up to 60 seconds.

Junkyard Challenge - tips Read the rules sentence by sentence Transcribe each individual rule into an outline of testable statements – rule is either met or not met –Ex: Box is less than 60cm long – yes/no Group rules by type –Construction, competition, penalties, etc Use this list as a checklist to ensure your device complies with ALL rules