Secondary San Diego Science Olympiad, San Diego County

Event Resources -Division B

This page provides event resources from the national and regional levels. Content is added regularly and noted by date. Please bookmark this page and check often. If you have resources to add, please contact Liz Jablecki.

Amphibians & Reptiles (B)
Added: 11/19/07 - Handout from Workshop on Nov 17.

Added: 10/11/07 -Get the Official List of Amphibians, Reptiles and Turtles from the National Science Olympiad website.

Balloon Launched Glider (B)
Added: 01/29/08 - The event captain will be at the gym by 6:30 am. You may practice until the event starts, but there will be several gliders in the air at the same time and you will have to supply your own filled balloons.

Added: 01/23/08 -We will allow practice flights before 8 AM. However,

1. There will possibly be several gliders in the air at the same time and the doors will not be kept closed, and

2. My understanding is that these gliders are very delicate. The students have to be aware that something could happen to their gliders during the practice flights.

3. If glider hits something that slows the descent, then we will stop timing.

4. This gym is about 3/4 the size of a standard gym that has one basketball court. This gym has a roof that slopes from the two ends to a very high center. I know that we went through this last year, but I can not find the dimensions of the room.

5. If there is an inadvertent launch, it will not count as one of the three launches, but the time will be part of the 8 minutes allowed to the team. The launch will count only when the team says, "3, 2, 1, launch" or whatever it wants to say indicating a launch.

6. There will be three teams preparing and launching their gliders at the same time. The gliders will not fly at the same time, but the students will be preparing them to fly. Each team will be times with a separate stop watch any down time due to waiting for another team will not be counted against it. With eight minutes allowed / team and a possible 65 teams, we have to have several teams preparing to fly at the same time.

Added: 12/1/07 - Rules clarification from National web site.

Added: 12/1/07 -The event description is a bit confusing. For the Regional Competition on Feb 2, 2008 - the Event Captain will supply a helium-filled ballon. If you want to use the helium-filled balloon provided by the Event Captain, you may bring a launching perch, - You do not have to use a launching perch, but you may bring one to use on his balloon. Alternatively, you may ring your own balloons + line(s) + helium +/- launching perch. You may NOT bring your own balloon and expect to use the event captain's helium supply.

Added: 11/19/07 - Score sheet for 2008.
Please note: there may be changes to these score sheets. Please contact Liz if you discover any mistakes. The score sheets for construction events are intended to help students and coaches check their devices. Also, the event captains use them at the Competition to make sure that they have checked all of the necessary criteria.

Added: 11/08/07 -Replacement pieces to make the wing span correct were sent to head coaches on November 2. If you have not yet received these parts. Please contact Liz Jablecki.

Added: 10/26/07 -Important note from Ray Harlan:
"I think I messed up on a couple of details in the kits I sent. Most importantly, the wood in the Floater kits is short. It was leftover wood from last year and I didn't think about the increased wingspan. Also, the fuselage wood was a bit short." The plan is that Ray Harlan will replace the Floater wood. He will mail the correct materials to Liz Jablecki, who will in turn mail it to you.

Added: 10/08/07 -Each school that registered for San Diego SO this year (2007/2008) received one kit to construct a Floater 67. Some additional kits will be available to purchase at the November 17 workshops.

Floater 67 Kits can also be ordered directly from Ray Harlan. Note that the web page says the models are for SO 2006-2007. He has made our kits for 2007-2008, but it is strongly recommended that you check all the criteria in the event description against the model.

Bio-Process (B)
Added: 01/29/08 -Goggles are NOT necessary for this event at our Regionals. They may be required at State.

Added: 01/12/08 -Notes from Event Captain January 10 Coaches Meeting--
Know the following hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic. There will be data to analyze and graphs. Understand osmosis and the phylogenetic tree.

Disease Detectives (B)
Added: 01/12/08 -Notes from Event Captain January 10 Coaches Meeting--
Non-programmable calculators are allowed and will be really helpful for the students. The test will be long. The students are expected to finish. They should know some of the voculary of epidemiology. There will be figures, graphs, tables and rates. Formulas, if needed, will not be given.

Added: 11/15/07 - Disease Detectives Sample Exam

Ecology (B)
Added: 01/15/08 -Written Test. The Event Captain says that he usually writes questions that do not require calculators.

Food Science (B)
Added: 11/26/07 - Handout from workshop on November 17.

Metric Mastery (B)
Added: 01/21/08 -The calipers for the two tasks are a dial caliper and a vernier caliper. Mechanically, they use the same procedure to take measurements, so students can practice with digital calipers, but should be familiar with ones that are not digital.

Added: 01/15/08 -Students will need to know how to use Vernier Calipers, click here for a great resource.

Added: 01/12/08 -Notes from Event Captain January 10 Coaches Meeting--
Consider volume, displacement, capacity and do not leave a station with the scale out of tare.

Mystery Architecture (B)
Added: 01/15/08 -The event description says that each team may bring a pair of scissors, a pair of pliers and a ruler. I just met with the Event Captain and we agree that ALL TEAM should bring a pair of scissors and a ruler. They will be important. The pliers are really optional. Teams from the same school will NOT be allowed to share these items with each other.

Reach for the Stars (B)
Added: 11/08/07 -Please note that the "Reach for the Stars" event rules contain three errors. Those items and their correct spellings are:

--Cassiopeia: Cas A & Tycho’s Star
--Ophiuchus: Barnard's Star
--Sagittarius: Sgr A.

Road Scholar (B)
Added: 12/1/07 - Great resource for tests, answer keys and maps.

Added: 12/1/07 - Visit this site for copies of the Road Scholar units.

Added: 12/1/07 - Rules clarification from National web site.

Robo Cross (B)
Added: 1/15/08 -The decisions on the National web site over rule any we might make in our interpretation of the rules. Therefore, multiple robots are NOT allowed unless all except one of them is autonomous.

Added: 1/5/08 -PLEASE NOTE- The batteries will start standing on end, not lying down.

Q&A With Event Captain

Question:
If you buy a 9.6V battery that uses NICAD or NIMH cells it will measure up to 12V since each cell reads 1.5V when not loaded. In the past they allowed these 9.6V cells as long as they were marked 9.6V and did not allow them if they were not marked. All NICAD and NIMH cells are rated at 1.2V but read 1.5V when fully charged and not loaded (They drop to 1.2V soon after loading the cell). How is this going to be handled and how can we insure that if we use 9.6V packs that they will be allowed. ALL FM transmitters us 9.6V battery packs or 8 cell packs that will measure 12V and most are not marked. What will you do about this?

Answer from the Regional event captain:
I have an FM transmitter at home so I checked it. It is a 8-cell pack which reads 11 V fully charged. When I turn on the controller, it reads 10 V. And no, there is no voltage stated on the label, just the manufacturer's name and that it contains 8-cells. My transmitter actually beeps a warning if the voltage drops below 9.6 volts to make sure you bring in your RC in time.

I don't think that we need to be particularly concerned about the transmitter voltage - I think we should concentrate on the robot's voltage. If the controller's battery is outputting 12 V fully charged and he can control it from across the school, that is not the issue. I think the limitation is more critical on the robot's motor batteries. We don't want a gigantic battery capable of hurting anyone. Normal RC car batteries are 9.6 V and they should be marked by the manufacturer. I can bring a volt meter to check these.

I would say that if the controller is hand-made, then we ought to check the output voltage, taking into account loading. If it is a commercial transmitter that they are using to control their robot with the battery that came with it, then I would say it should be ok to use. If the robot's power batteries are hacked and assembled, then we definitely will need to check more closely on the voltage there.

To sum up:
The Event Captain for Robo-Cross for the San Diego Regional Competition will:

a. accept batteries that are marked by the manufacturers as having 9.6 v, OR

b. if the batteries are not marked, he will use a volt meter - and will take loading into account.

Added: 11/26/07 - Great resource on Robotics from Standard University.

Added: 11/26/07 - Rules Clarifications from National web site.

Rocks & Minerals (B)
Added: 1/5/08 - Handout from the Workshop on Nov 17.

Added: 10/11/07 -Get the Official List of Rocks & Minerals from the National Science Olympiad website.

Added: 10/03/07 - Recommended guide and rock kit
1. Simon & Shuster's Guide to Rocks and Minerals (Rocks, Minerals and Gemstones)available at Amazon.com.

2. The Washington School Collection #45V0322 from Ward's, click here to order

Science Crime Busters (B)
Added: 1/23/08 -
1. Can the page (front and back) of notes for Science Crime Busters be color coded and highlighted? Can they bring it in a plastic sleeve "page protector"? Sure

2. Would you please consider giving back the pages to the coaches of the appropriate school after the exams are all done and graded? Sure. The event captain will give them to me at the end of testing and I will return them at the Awards Ceremony - by school. Make sure that they are labeled.

3. On the exam last year, the students had to differentiate PVC (polyvinyl chloride) from PETE (polyethylene terephthalate). Can you give me any guidance as to what I can tell my students with respect to differentiating these two plastics without burn data?

The Event Captain told us that there would be not burn data on the SCB exam this year. If the event captain expects them to be able to differentiate these two plastics without burn data, will she provide info about what the plastic pieces come from (uses of polymers)? On the exam last year, there was no info of this type. The students were given materials and reagents to perform density tests and in our lab tests, PETE and PVC give identical results.

The coach is correct. In our limited event testing PETE and PVC are hard to tell apart. That is why, in the past, we gave credit for "PVC" when the polymer was in fact "PETE". The density range of PVC is greater and the polymers handle somewhat differently. Both scratch and stretch tests are of limited use with our samples (so you now know they won't be films). Without the results of burn tests, the source and feel of the sample provide some grounds for an educated guess.

Added: 01/12/08 -Notes from Event Captain January 10 Coaches Meeting--
Science Crime Busters B is not a station event. Each team has its own bench space. Supervised areas (Bunsen burner, microscope, acids/bases, etc.) are shared. We have not experienced a backup at any shared areas in past years (they are empty for most of the event) but will set up a duplicate Bunsen burner site in response to voiced concerns. Also, students may bring as many test tubes as they would like (providing the "small" containers or reaction plates for mixing") but I would think about how many things these kids can carry. No blood typing.

Added: 11/19/07 -2007 exam and answer key.
-Please note: some of the answers don't make sense unless you can see what was on the lab bench in front of the students, but I figured that you would like to have them anyway.

Science Word (B)
Added: 10/15/07 -This year's words will be different from last year's words. There will be easier words in the beginning and more difficult words towards the end. Also, last year there was a list of words from an SO workshop in Arizona. We purposely avoided them and will do so again. There is NO list of words to study.

Scrambler (B)
Added: 1/9/08 -Q&A from Event Captain

Q. The instructions for Scrambler state that for holding the egg you must use a backstop of “any rigid Material”. I would like to use ________. Is that acceptable?

A. That is difficult to assess without seeing the material in person. I think what the planners have in mind is more like hard plastic or hard wood (not balsa wood!). It would be better to use something that is very rigid/hard to avoid controversy. You can glue a piece of it onto the current backstop if needed. If you tape it on, make sure the tape doesn’t overlap the front of the backstop where egg touches it.

Q. How is the timing done?

A. We time the run with 2 judges with stopwatches and average their times. They start when the head judge finishes saying “1-2-3-Go”, and finish when the vehicle comes to a complete stop.

Added: 12/9/07 -Q&A from Event Captain

Q: Is it OK to have a bag of sand or other heavy weight object brought in to weigh down the propulsion system so it will not move when the system is run? Does it have to be physically attached to the propulsion system to be OK?

A: I think there can actually be more than 2 parts of the machine, for example, you can have the transport, the launchign device and the mass. I don't see anything wrong with having weights to stabilize the launch device, and those can be detachable (i.e. bags of sand...as long as the don't leak!). Nothing says it all has to be connected together. All parts must be in the cube, which is correct and important.

Simple Machines (B)
Added: 12/30/07 -Calculators: The calculations students need to do during the Simple Machine B test are very simple and do not involve any sophisticated calculations which will require sophisticated programming function. A simple calculator will do the job. The students can bring and use whatever type of the calculators they have.

Tower (B)
Added: 01/15/08 -Students are allowed 10 minutes to load the sand into the buckets. They will certainly be allowed to use all of that time if they want to do so. However, they might want to consider that the longer the sand sits in the bucket, the longer their devices are under stress. No, they can not dump it all at once, but they might want to consider moving along at a decent pace.

At the Jan 10 meeting, our Event Captain for tower made this point. The weight of the bucket is transferred to the hook from which it hangs. It does not matter how the sand is distributed in the bucket, the weight is the same and the forces are the same on the hook. Some students spend a lot of time leveling out the sand in the bucket, an exercise that does not make much sense.

Added: 12/30/07 - Score sheet for 2008.
Please note: This document has changed as of 12/30/07-- the 10 minute limited indicated is only for loading the sand. There may be changes to these score sheets. Please contact Liz if you discover any mistakes. The score sheets for construction events are intended to help students and coaches check their devices. Also, the event captains use them at the Competition to make sure that they have checked all of the necessary criteria.

Trajectory (B)
Added: 01/27/08 -Q&A with Event Captain
Q: If the teams need to use weights to stabilize their launching apparatus, do they have to include the weights for impounding? The reason that I am asking this is that several teams are planning to share the weights in the competition, so it might be problematic if weights need to be impounded.

A: Each team should bring all of its own stuff - no sharing between teams even if they are the same weights.

Q: During the competition, will one of the team members be allowed to get close (but still outside of the prohibited area) to the target so they can make corrections for the next repeated launch? Or will the event judge tell the team how far off they are to the target both in distance and direction?

A: The event captain and I are torn about the second question. She is concerned about chaos - good point. I think that we should try letting one of the team members watch the judge do the measurement - only if it hit the target. If it hit the floor, then everyone saw where it hit. If she decides that it is dangerous or turning into some sort of nightmare, then she can stop doing it. Hopefully, we can rope off the spectators and other teams so that it is all very well controlled. So - this is still up in the air. We are chewing on it.

Added: 01/21/08 -
1. Students should bring their graphs with them to impound along with the devices. They may bring as many graphs as they like, but they must designate which four graphs they want to have scored. Numbering them Graph #1, #2, #3 and #4 would be helpful. And, staple them together and put the team and school names on them.

2. Also, the device is supposed to fit inside a cube 80cm square. We will use a four-sided cube, no top, no bottom. The event captain will let the students place the box over their devices before their first shots and after their last shots - twice. We will not do it before and after each shot. Please make sure that the devices will fit in the cube before you get to the competition, and it would make sense to have devices that fit in easily.

Added: 12/1/07 - Score sheet for 2008.
Please note: there may be changes to these score sheets. Please contact Liz if you discover any mistakes. The score sheets for construction events are intended to help students and coaches check their devices. Also, the event captains use them at the Competition to make sure that they have checked all of the necessary criteria.

Science Olympiad -San Diego

Event Resources -Division B