Need Ideas for Science competition lasting under an hour.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2008-02-25 07:55pm

I brought myself to be the person to gather together ideas for a competition for about 50+ high school students coming to Stony Brook to visit the engineering facilities. So far we have a few ideas such as paper towers, popsicle bridges, rockets, and a few other things.

We still haven't decided yet so if you have any ideas to throw at me, it'd be awesome. The competition has to be completed in under an hour but it'll probably be 45 minutes at the most. With 50+ students, they will be working in teams.

If you have better google-fu skills, ring me up a few sites if you so choose. The only one I have so far is www.winstonscience.org A bunch of other websites are mostly for science fairs...

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2008-02-25 08:03pm

The good old egg drop is often informative and entertaining. Might get messy though.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2008-02-26 08:32am

I remember an old competition we did to see who could make the sturdiest boat.

We had two categories: Most weight held before sinking and most weight held proportionate to the boat's own weight. An upper limit was set on how heavy the boat could be (a few pounds), and the boat had to be put in a basin, loaded up, and stay afloat with ever-increasing amounts of cargo until it sunk.

There were certain restrictions on materials (one couldn't cut a hole in a plastic pool toy and put the stuff inside, for example), but allowances were made for creativity within the realm of reason.

Ted C · Post by **Ted C** » 2008-02-26 11:35am

You can always use bridge-building scenarios:

Bridge a defined span with provided materials arranged as you please; the bridge that can support the most weight at its middle wins.

Build a bridge to support a specific amount of weight using provided materials; the successful bridge with the longest span wins.

Build a bridge to cross a specified span and support a specified amount of weight; the bridge that uses the smallest amount of provided construction material wins.

Other notions:
Completely fill a jar or other container with liquid; challenge students to determine what liquid the jar contains without opening it. Make sure an identical, empty jar is handy.

Singular Intellect · Post by **Singular Intellect** » 2008-02-26 12:09pm

There's one good science example I can think of off hand and is really simple and extremely easy to perform.

Take your typical empty paper towel roll, and wrap a elastic band around one end that is holding a paper towel in place, sealing off that one end.

Then take a broom handle or other long enough pole object (preferably with a blunt end) and poke a hole through the paper towel, going through the length of the empty roll.

Call that demostration one.

Then take that same setup, but this time fill the roll halfway full of fairly fine sand.

Then try and jab the pole through the sand and the paper...you won't be able to do it (unless you use a great deal of force).

Then explain to everyone why this is the case.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2008-02-26 12:19pm

Another one which is probably too simplistic to use, but which is both fun and doesn't take too long, is a paper-airplane contest. Points awarded for distance and speed.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-02-26 12:23pm

You could always try something that actually involves science rather than glorified arts and crafts. For example, take a deep bucket, let the kids measure it, and then let them try to determine how high the water-line will go when you put 10 kg of weights into it. Prize to the winner, as long as he can explain his methodology and it isn't a lucky guess.

The necessary science should be within the capabilities of a high school student. You could always provide hints such as the known density of water if they're getting stuck.

Mind you, the airhead population in the group will find this exercise "lame and boring", which is how they describe anything that's too complex for their infantile minds to understand, so it won't be a big hit with some of the kids. But you asked for a science contest. If you don't want one, you can always tell them to make popsicle-stick log cabins or something.

Singular Intellect · Post by **Singular Intellect** » 2008-02-26 12:26pm

Darth Wong wrote:You could always try something that actually involves science rather than glorified arts and crafts. For example, take a deep bucket, let the kids measure it, and then let them try to determine how high the water-line will go when you put 10 kg of weights into it. Prize to the winner, as long as he can explain his methodology and it isn't a lucky guess.

*raises hand* OH OH! I know this one!

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-02-26 01:47pm

In a similar vein, it would be interesting to make a small catapult (counter-weight design, simple cup at the end rather than a sling) and then have the kids try to determine what weight to use in the counterweight in order to fling the shot a certain distance. By using a simple cup to hold the shot, one loses distance but should be able to simplify the theoretical work.

If one is bound to increase the arts and crafts or "fun" quotient, one might have pre-cut pieces that can be fit together so that the kids each build their own catapult and then fire it.

Szass Tam · Post by **Szass Tam** » 2008-02-26 07:46pm

Go with rockets, preferably using 2-litre pop bottles, and give them 2-3 different reactants to mix. This will 1.) be fun as hell and 2.) involve actual science in determining which reactants will produce the most thrust and figuring out the best possible ratio of reactants to place in the rocket.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-02-27 12:01am

Szass Tam wrote:Go with rockets, preferably using 2-litre pop bottles, and give them 2-3 different reactants to mix. This will 1.) be fun as hell and 2.) involve actual science in determining which reactants will produce the most thrust and figuring out the best possible ratio of reactants to place in the rocket.

That's a little messy for an indoor event.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2008-02-27 12:08am

I have to say I like Mikes idea of building catapults. Though, I would have them design it from given materials (allow them to readjust the length of the lever arm for example) and have a distance competition to see who can get theirs to fire farthest.

If you are not restricting yourself to applied chemistry and physics (mostly physics in this case) you can dive into the world of biology and have them come up with hypotheses to explain various human behaviors, or whatever they like, and then figure out ways to test them. You can also do thought exercises in debunking pseudoscience

Feil · Post by **Feil** » 2008-02-27 01:00am

Trying to integrate a more hands-on approach with actual science, something like this might work.

Launcher: Given the distance between the launcher and the target, and a list of labeled equations for torque, acceleration, force, spring force, etc.

Students get thirty minutes with a bunch of blocks, springs, levers, etc; a series of masses; a ruler and a triple-beam balance. At the end of that thirty minutes, construct a simple machine to hurl a projectile over a barrier at a target. You get one shot. You may not make any test shots during your 30 minutes, either. The team which gets closest wins.

Bonus points if they design a coilgun to shoot straight through the barrier and obliterate the target with a hypervelocity projectile.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2008-02-27 01:23am

It might help to know what grade of high school students these are.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2008-02-27 07:37am

Thanks for the suggestions.

It's most likely going to be juniors but they could be whoever the schools decide to send as the event is primarily trying to get students interested in enrolling to Stony Brook's engineering program.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-02-27 01:24pm

If the objective is to get them excited about coming there, you have to show them high-tech equipment. So give them some kit parts, and go for ... ROBOT WARS!

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2008-02-27 08:00pm

Show them the Very Dangerous TM stuff, that's always interesting

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2008-02-27 08:48pm

Darth Wong wrote:If the objective is to get them excited about coming there, you have to show them high-tech equipment. So give them some kit parts, and go for ... ROBOT WARS!

Oh yea, the competition is only to entertain half the entire group while the other half visit the laboratories and then they switch.

Sriad · Post by **Sriad** » 2008-02-27 09:12pm

I think a good approach might be combination applied physics/arts and crafts stemming from the catapult idea.

Give them materials to build their own catapults (fun with arts and crafts!); after a 35 minute (or whatever) build and planning time, the competition will be to hit targets at several distances by adjusting the counterweights or (if these are really bright students) counterweights and lever arm lengths. Ways to tailor the difficulty could include what measuring devices and weights the students have available to calibrate their chuckers before the actual event, what increments of weights are available for the actual flinging, and distances to the targets.

Er, reading RECENT responses, this is pretty much what Feil is suggesting.

Oh well, it's a good idea.

Jaepheth · Post by **Jaepheth** » 2008-02-27 11:36pm

I like the build a catapult idea.
Though I'd also have the engineers design one, and offer a prize to any team that beats the engineers.

SpacedTeddyBear · Post by **SpacedTeddyBear** » 2008-02-28 12:37am

If the catapult is the way to go, a mousetrap is a good prefabricated part to build up from. Nail a block of wood on the kill end of the base, and rig some sort of adjustable lever arm on the killbar. You can have a competition to see who can hit 3 different sized ground targets at a predetermined distance.