Arkansas Physics


High School Physics Day
Rules for Events

General

  1. Each school must enter at least one team in every event. Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of points and/or prizes.
  2. Students will be participating in or observing an event at all times. Teachers/chaperones should be aware of students at all times. Unsupervised students are a liability to both the instructor and the University and will not be tolerated.
  3. Please remind your students that they are on a school-sanctioned field trip; therefore, all rules of your school still apply.
  4. Decisions of the judges are final.

Quiz Bowl

  1. Each school must enter at least one team. Teams must consist of four students, with no more than two teams per school. (If your school is bringing less than three students, accommodations will be made.) No student may participate on more than one team.
  2. Teams will be provided with scratch paper and pencil, one per participant. No calculators or other electronic devices (other than the clicker provided) are allowed.
  3. Questions will be drawn from the following areas: constant acceleration motion, variable acceleration motion, projectile motion, momentum, energy, springs, pendulums, circular motion, Newton's Laws of Motion, graphs of motion, simple optics, and history of physics. Questions will be multiple choice; purely conceptual, mathematical (requiring simple algebraic skills), and a combination of both are included.
  4. Teams should have a unique team name, which does not include any inappropriate language.
  5. Each team must designate a team captain who will be responsible for ringing in the team's answers.
  6. Initial round of competition will be round robin, where every team will be guaranteed two matches.
  7. Round robin and semi-final matches will utilize electronic clickers, which teams will use to ring in and answer the questions. Teams will score points based on the speed at which they answer correctly; with the use of these clickers, it is possible for all teams to score points on the same question. Incorrect answers will receive no points.
  8. The two round robin scores are added together to arrive a composite team score. The top four team scores will move on to the semi-final round. If needed, tie-break questions will be utilized to determine semi-final participants. Tie-break questions will be free response, all or nothing scoring questions. The first team to submit the correct answer will be the winner of the tie-break.
  9. The semi-final round will consist of ten questions. There will be one match, including all four teams. The top two scores will move on to the final round. In case of a tie, the same tie-break rules from the round robin will apply.
  10. The final round will also consist of ten questions. Scoring in this round will be based on speed and accuracy. Only one team will receive points for each question. Final round questions will all be free response, varying in difficulty and point value. Scores available will be such that a tie is impossible.

Mystery Competition

  1. Each school must enter at least one team. Teams may consist of up to three students, with no more than five teams per school.
  2. Supplies and rules for the mystery competition will be presented to each team at beginning of competition time. The time allotted for event will be split into preparation and competition portions. After the preparation time has expired, no more work may be done on the teams' projects.
  3. Non-participating students are required to attend as spectators.
  4. Cheering on teams is permitted and encouraged; however, bad sportsmanship or attempts at assistance will result in disqualification of team.

Mousetrap Cars

  1. Each school must enter at least one team. Teams may consist of up to three students, with up to three teams per school.
  2. No pre-fabricated kits are allowed. All mousetrap cars should be made by students who did not follow a kit or any instructions other than those found here.
  3. There will be two parts to the competition: furthest displacement and fastest to travel 5 linear meters. Each competition will be scored separately and prizes will be awarded in each.
  4. The car must be powered by a single Victor brand mouse trap. Cars using other brands of traps will be disqualified.
  5. The mousetrap can not be physically altered except for the following: 4 holes can be drilled only to mount the mousetrap to the frame and a mousetrap's spring can be removed only to adjust the length of its lever arm. Students may not remove the spring in order to wind it tighter.
  6. The device cannot have any additional potential or kinetic energy at the start other than what can be stored in the mousetrap's spring itself. This also means that you cannot push start your vehicle- vehicles must be self-starting.
  7. Vehicles must be self-steering. Once a car has begun moving, students may not touch it in any way. Doing so will forfeit the student's entry.
  8. The spring from the mousetrap cannot be altered, heat treated, or wound more than its normal travel distance (180 degrees).

    9. Displacement Competition:
  9. Cars will be scored based on displacement from start to finish, not the total distance traveled.
  10. Displacement will be measured from the front of the starting line tape to the point on the car nearest to the starting line.
  11. Depending on the number of entries, teams may receive up to three chances to obtain the greatest displacement for their cars. Teams are guaranteed at least one run of their vehicles, with more runs possible as time permits.

    12. Speed Competition:
  12. Racers can not receive a running start and must start as close as possible to the start line. Time of run will begin when any part of the vehicle passes over the start line and will ends when that same point passes over the 5-meter mark. If photogates are used for timing, cars will be required to attach a flag (provided by the physics department) to their tops.
  13. Photogate timers will be used, equipment permitting. If photogate times are not used, two manual timers will be used for each run, and the two times will be averaged to arrive at a final time.
  14. Depending on the number of entries, teams may receive up to three chances to obtain the greatest displacement for their cars. Teams are guaranteed at least one run of their vehicles, with more runs possible as time permits.

Bonus Competition (A Century of Physics dramatic interpretations)

  1. Each school may enter as many students as desired. Participating schools will receive four bonus points, regardless of number of entries.
  2. Each participant must dress up as a character that has made a significant contribution in the area of physics. Due to the fact that there was previously an Einstein Look-A-Like competition, students may not choose to impersonate Einstein.
  3. Students should prepare a two minute presentation including who you are, what you did, what impact, how it was done, and why it was done. Props are allowed and strongly encouraged.

Physics Demonstrations

  1. This is an individual student or team competition, with no more than two members to a team. There is no limit on the number of school entries.
  2. Design a demonstration that illustrates a physical concept or phenomena.
  3. The design must not have been presented or judged previously.
  4. Students will be expected to present the demonstration, correctly answer questions posed by judges, and show understanding of the underlying physical principles.
  5. At registration time, please indicate if you need electrical power for your demonstration and or other additional equipment.
  6. You will be assigned a presentation time at registration.

Physics Photography

  1. This is an individual student or team competition, with no more than two team members. There is no limit on the number of school entries.
  2. Entries are limited to one photo per student / team and must be the work of the student.
  3. Black and White or Color traditional photos and digital photos are accepted.
  4. Photos should be submitted in 8" by 10" or 8.5" by 11" format and mounted on a sturdy backing. An essay of 250 words or less must be submitted along with the photo. The essay should include the following: location, persons involved, and physical concepts shown in the photo with explanation.
  5. The essay should have a title and must be written by the student.
  6. The student and school names must be on the back on the photo and not on the essay.
  7. Photos will be hung in the hallway for all participants to view.
  8. Judging will take place during the egg drop competition and students may not be present.
  9. Students will be voting on the best photo for a Viewers Choice Award. Each school will receive the same number of votes, as determined by voting tokens given to teachers. Voting tokens will be included in the teacher packets at registration.

Physics Posters

  1. Students should work individually on posters. Only one poster per student may be entered, with a limit of five posters per school.
  2. Posters should deal with anything related to physics (history, famous persons other than Einstein, laws of physics, new developments or applications, etc).
  3. Posters should be submitted at registration time and will be hung in a hallway near competition rooms. A department volunteer will assist students in hanging posters.
  4. Posters will be judged according to correctness of content, aesthetics, and originality.

Egg Drop

  1. Teams may consist of no more than three students and schools are limited to no more than three scored entries. Scored entries will be registered by instructors and will receive an official entry number. Other students wishing to participate may bring a container. These containers will not count for scoring but will be dropped, time permitting. Non-competing containers must be left at registration with student and school names written in permanent marker.
  2. No restraining devices or aerodynamic devices may be attached to the container.
  3. The maximum drop height will be 100 feet.
  4. Each container must be designed to hold TWO raw, uncooked, untreated/unsprayed, medium chicken eggs. Eggs will be provided by the physics department; DO NOT bring your own eggs.
  5. The eggs will be loaded into the container at registration time. DO NOT preload the eggs and seal the container. Any container arriving sealed will be opened and eggs discarded. Eggs will be replaced with University-provided variety.
  6. Containers must be no larger that 50 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm.
  7. Containers that might chip the asphalt or injure observers will be disqualified.
  8. Containers must be opened after impact to inspect the contents.
  9. Teams will be scored in the following categories: number of surviving eggs and smallest container volume.

School Competition

  1. First place in any competition will result in 6 points for the school, Second place will result in 4 points, and Third place will result in 2 points.
  2. In each competition, a tie will result in both teams receiving the full number of points.
  3. If a school leaves prior to the award ceremony, only participation certificates will be mailed to the school's office. All prizes will be forfeited.

Last Updated: Dec. 4, 2007
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