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Physics Bowl: All Olympiad Teams are automatically registered for this event.
Come ready to participate. A series of 15-20 exciting physics demonstrations will be described by a UM Faculty member.
A question about each demonstration will be posed for the teams to consider. Each team will then come to a consensus answer.
Answers for each question will be provided by watching the demonstration happen.
Faculty coordinator: Professor Aaron Leanhardt [aehardt@umich.edu].
Laser Maze: A laser beam is to be guided through an optical maze onto a bull's eye target.
Three mirrors must be aligned such that the laser beam bounces off all mirrors and passes through circular apertures to be
placed in specified areas along the beam path. The laser is turned off during most of the alignment procedure.
Faculty coordinator: Professor Vanessa Sih [vsih@umich.edu].
Interference Challenge: Students place two sound-producing speakers,
operating between 300 and 2000 Hz, outside of a ring of 1m diameter. In the ring there are two fixed microphones
(positions provided at the event). The students must endeavor to place the speakers in such a way to
create interference, such that the sound intensity at one microphone is at a maximum and the sound intensity
at the other is at a minimum.
Faculty coordinator: Professor Fred Becchetti [fdb@umich.edu].
Pasta Bridge: Before coming to the Olympiad, teams of two or
three students will construct a bridge that must span 15" out of pasta and glue. During the competition,
weights will be added until the bridge reaches its breaking point. The bridges will be judged by the ratio
of the mass supported to the mass of the bridge itself: the team who achieves the highest ratio will win the event.
A brief quiz will cover static equilibria and other physical concepts behind bridge building.
This event is designed and run by the Society of Women in Physics.
Faculty coordinator: Professor Jennifer Ogilvie [jogilvie@umich.edu].
Rockets: The goal of this event is to hit a
target on a tall building using an air powered rocket. The rockets
are launched from a standard launch pad, which allows the angle to be adjusted. Each team may make a
total of three attempts to hit the target, with the anticipation that adjustments to the launch angle and
launch speed will be made between attempts. There will also be a quiz
test.
Faculty coordinators: Professor Hui Deng [dengh@umich.edu] and
Professor James Liu [jimliu@umich.edu].
ROG Ramble: Teams of two students construct two simple
rubber-powered model airplanes from inexpensive commercial kits. Points toward the team's final score are
awarded for a quiz and for flight performance. One point is awarded for each second that a model
is in the air and the sum of the two longest flights achieved, in seconds, comprises the flight score for the event.
The quiz is designed to test basic physics concepts related to flight.
Faculty coordinator: Dr. Andrew Tomasch [atomasch@umich.edu].
Solar Wheels: Teams of two students will design, construct and race a model solar car
powered by a photovoltaic cell and an electric motor.
The photovoltaic cell and the electric motor provided by the event organizers must be used in the
construction of the solar car: no substitutes are allowed. Points toward the team's final score are awarded for
the car's performance in a timed race as well as the team's score on a quiz. Cars will be timed over a prescribed distance.
The quiz is designed to test basic physics concepts related to solar energy and motion.
If the weather is not clear and sunny, the race segment will be held indoors using high intensity lamps (provided)
as a substitute for the sun.
Faculty coordinator: Professor Roy Clarke [royc@umich.edu].
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