Virginia Science Olympiad:

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Virginia Science Olympiad BUILDING EVENTS DIV B
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Div B Building Events

• Wright Stuff
• Elevated Bridge
• Battery Buggy
• Trajectory
• Junkyard Challenge

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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

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BASICS TO REMEMBER

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

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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 www.soinc.org 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

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Wright Stuff
Students construct a monoplane to achieve maximum
flight time
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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

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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

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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

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Wright Stuff Design

• Buy a kit and modify to meet specs
  http//www.freedomflightmodels.com/ has a good
  one 2 per kit
• Buy rubber you can cut yourself and a winder, you
  may even want rubber lube http//www.indoormodels
  upply.com/default.htm
• Get large plastic bins to keep everything in

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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 wont
  stick to the pattern or board.
• Mylar is tricky to cut and rips easily use a
  soldering iron to melt away excess

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Elevated Bridge

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

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Elevated Bridge - basics
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Elevated Bridge - basics
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Elevated Bridge - basics

• Important measurements
• Must span 35-40 cm
• Must clear 15x15 cm in center
• Max height of 20 cm

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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

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Elevated Bridge - scoring

• The score is pure efficiency
• Efficiency mass held
  bridge mass
• Bridges that dont meet specs are tested but
  moved to tier 2
• Bridges that are untestable are in tier 3 and
  ranked by mass

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Elevated Bridge - tips

• Balsa has best weight to strength ratio order
  online for better pieces (http//www.modernss.com/
  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

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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.
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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.

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Battery Buggy - basics

• The vehicles 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 vehicles 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 vehicles tires

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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

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2010 BATTERY BUGGY THE VEHICLE
Batteries
MOTOR
Track Widthlt 19.0 cm

• Fixed Point
• Forward of all other parts
• lt 1.0 cm above track surface

Wheel Base24.0 28.0 cm
Batteries
Four 1.5V batteries -OR- One 4.8V battery
pack
lt 1.0 cm
Track Surface
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Battery Buggy the track
Regional Increments 50 cm State Increments 10
cm National Increments 1 cm
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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 vehicles 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

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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

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Battery Buggy - scoring

• Time Score
• The Time Score is 20X 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 Vehicles Run Time is 7.89 seconds.
• 7.89 seconds 20 157.8 points

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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.
• 1234 mm 1234 points

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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.

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Trajectory

• Design calibrate a catapult
• Data Collection
• Data Analysis

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 2nd shot for the
  original target, and if the scoring comes down to
  3rd and 4th tiebreakers, teams with a bucket shot
  are ranked below the others

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Trajectory scoring
Lowest score wins Score Lower Close Target
Area Score Lower Far Target Area Score Graph
Score Penalties Bucket Shot Deductions
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Trajectory scoring
Target scores are basically the distance between
center of target and where the projectile
actually hits in mm
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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.

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Junkyard Challenge

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

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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

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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

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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

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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!

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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.

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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