Virginia Science Olympiad:

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Virginia Science Olympiad BUILDING EVENTS Div C
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Building Events

• Egg-O-Naut
• Elevated Bridge
• Its About Time
• Mousetrap Vehicle
• Trajectory
• Mission Possible (States only)

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BASICS TO REMEMBER

• Each device should be clearly labeled with the
  team name and number
• All devices, except Egg-O-Naut, must be impounded
• All events require protective eyewear
• Any student on the team may help build the device
  (new)
• FOLLOW THE RULES!

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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 Egg-O-Naut,
  Trajectory, and Mousetrap Vehicle - 5 or high
  impact goggles/spectacles must be worn that is
  they must be rated ANSI Z87

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Egg-O-Naut
Students design a water rocket out of a 2-L
bottle that carries an egg
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Egg-O-Naut

• Students can bring 2 egg-o-nauts for launching
• The 2-L bottle must be from a carbonated
  beverage. Students must bring the label from the
  bottle or leave it on the bottle

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Egg-O-Naut

• Students add water to the bottle
• The bottle is launched at 75 psi
• The bottle (pressure vessel) must not be damaged
  in any way no scratches, no super glue, only
  silicone or polyurethane glue can be used

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Egg-O-Naut Scoring

• The scoring is determined by time the rocket is
  in the air
• 15 bonus points are awarded if the egg returns to
  the ground unbroken
• 3 bonus points are awarded if the egg detaches
  from the pressure chamber
• The best score of 2 launches is used

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Egg-O-Naut Design

• Fins keep the rocket stable use 3 or 4 (but
  nothing within 5 cm of nozzle)
• Nose cone helps reduce drag the nose cone
  usually contains the egg
• Recovery system - parachute
• Padding to protect egg (watch weight!)

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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 45-50 cm
• Must clear 30x12.5 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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Its About Time

• Construct a non-electrical device to measure time
  intervals between 10 and 300 seconds (Part I)
• Answer questions on the concept of time (Part II)

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Its About Time - basics

• Must be impounded (new this year)
• All parts for the device must fit in a 80cm cube
  for impound other items may be brought in a
  separate box for calibration, clean up, etc. but
  may not be part of the actual device (there are
  penalties for mess!)
• Students will have 5 minutes for initial set up
  and 1 minute in between trials to prepare for the
  next trial
• Students may also bring a 3-ring binder (not
  impounded), any size, with any notes hole-punched
  into the binder

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Its About Time - scoring

• Each part is worth 50 points
• Part I
• There are 5 time trials, each with a starting
  value of 10 points
• Deductions are made based on how many seconds off
  (to the 0.1 sec) the estimation is
• www.soinc.org has a spreadsheet and MP3 files
  with tones to download for practice
• Part II test format with questions about time

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Mousetrap Vehicle
Students build a vehicle that is propelled by 1
or 2 mousetraps
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Mousetrap Vehicle - basics

• Only unmodified commercial mousetraps may be
  used with bases less than 6.0 cm x 12.0 cm
• The vehicles wheel base must be between 30.0 cm
  and 34.0 cm. The wheel base is the distance
  between the center of rotation of the front and
  rear axles.
• The vehicles maximum wheel width may not exceed
  25.0 cm. The wheel width is the distance between
  the outermost sides of the left and right wheels.

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Mousetrap Vehicle - basics

• the device must work in 1 piece
• all energy must originate from the mousetrap
• the device must stop and reverse on its own
• only the wheels may contact the track
• a fixed pointed object must be on the perimeter
  of the vehicle 1 cm from the track
• sighting devices that do not use electricity are
  permitted

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Mousetrap Vehicle the track
3.50 m
7.00 m
8.00 m
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Mousetrap Vehicle - basics

• students may start the device anywhere along the
  start line (there is a bonus if the vehicle stays
  within the 1.50 m track width)
• the vehicle must start by the touch of a pencil,
  pen, dowel, etc.
• students have 10 minutes to set up and run 2
  trials
• students may not follow the vehicle down the
  track

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Mousetrap Vehicle - scoring

• lowest score wins
• score distance score lane bonus overrun
  penalty time score

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Mousetrap Vehicle - scoring
distance score (for vehicles that reach the 7
m line and reverse) the distance measured in cm
(to 0.1 cm) from the center of the starting line
to the fixed point. If the vehicle only makes it
past the 3.5 m line, 1000 points are added if it
doesnt even cross the 3.5 m line, 2000 points
are added
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Mousetrap Vehicle - scoring

• Lane bonus -20 points for vehicles whos fixed
  point remains in the 1.50 m lane
• Overrun penalty if the vehicle crosses the 8 m
  line an additional 50 points is added for each .5
  m
• Time score the time of the run measured to 0.01
  sec x 1 at regionals and x 2 at states
• (if the vehicle does not reverse it is time 3
  seconds)

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Mousetrap Vehicle other notes

• the vehicle must reverse in 3 seconds
• a recoil is not a reverse
• if the vehicle does not reverse it is moved to
  tier 2 of scoring
• competition violations move the vehicle to tier
  3
• if the vehicle does not meet specs it is moved
  to tier 4 of scoring

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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 60cm 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 10 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 2 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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Mission Possible (States only)

• Design a Rube-Goldberg type device that completes
  certain tasks

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Mission Possible - rules

• A list of tasks is given in the rules
• Students must start with task 4a
• Drop a standard golf ball from above the entire
  device so that it is released into the device and
  triggers a mousetrap that will begin the chain of
  events.

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Mission Possible - rules

• Students must end with task 4j
• Raise a flagpole with a rectangular school flag
  (fixed or mobile) that is at least 5 cm x 10 cm
  so that the lowest part of the flag is at least
  30 cm higher than all original parts of the device

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Mission Possible - rules

• All other tasks (4b-4i) can be completed in any
  order students turn in a task sequence list
• Other tasks may be involved, but will not earn
  any score
• The device can run for a maximum of 3 mins., but
  only earns time points for 60 secs. at Regionals
  and 60-90 secs. at States (2 pts/sec)

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Mission Possible - tips

• This event is very different than what is was in
  the past READ RULES
• Find students with creative minds who know
  electronics no more than 10.0 volts per circuit
• Electric components that can be used are
  specified in the rules (no computers)

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Mission Possible - tips

• Device must fit in 50 cm x 50 cm x 80 cm
  imaginary box of any orientation consider
  building an open box for students to build in
• Stay away from liquids (if possible) and
  hazardous materials
• Many points are gained for having the TSL in the
  correct format, having the first task first, and
  if it takes less than 30 mins. to set up and run
  at least get these easy points!

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Mission Possible - scoring

• Highest score wins
• See rules for points breakdown and penalties
• Many points are gained for having the TSL in the
  correct format, having the first task first, and
  if it takes less than 30 mins. to set up and run
  at least get these easy points!