Experimental Design B/C

[zyzzyva980]

Nothing is certain in this event, but if you've been in the event or know someone who's been in the event the last couple years and the regional event has been the same, you could ask them. There's a chance they might just repeat the same materials.

[deezee]

At invitationals and other minor competitions, I got a lot of experiments involving balls, rulers, and stopwatches, but it also ranged from paper chromatography to rolling cars down a ramp. I wouldn't say that the choices are vague, but the material the supervisors give you could be anything.

[applesandcheesewhiz]

Does anyone know what kind of items we will be given at regionals to complet our test?

I've seen everything from paper with paper clips to golf balls to matchbox cars...it all depends on who's running the event and what kind of time they'd had to prepare for it.

[Liv]

Basically the experiments can range from a sophisticated and long testing of acidity of vinegar with the effect of a crushed/non-crushed anti-acid tablet to the effect of the drop height on the bounce height of a ball(rcs invites). Basically just try to do a large variety of experiments.

[applesandcheesewhiz]

My team went to the Northridge invitational in Indiana this weekend and we got knocked down to second tier because we used our own paper for ED. It said that the rules don't say we can bring our own paper, but we were only supplied printer paper. Is this a legitimate thing or did the event coordinater just take the rules too literally?

I was there too! Not much to brag about, but my team got knocked down a teir because we brought our goggles..but we..uhh...forgot to put them on. I feel so stupid everytime I repeat that. We brougt our own paper, but not really thinking, I (I was in charge of writing the procedure while my other teammates tested the expiriment) used the computer paper the coordinator had given to us. It doesn't state anywhere in the rules to bring writing paper, but it aslo doesn't say you can't. It really could go either way, you were maybe...over prepared (if that's possible?) or you were using materials from an outside source. When it all comes down to it, I think that's up to the judge. (But this coordinator had marked my team down for several things that we supposedly didn't include that were stated very clearly in the original expiriment, such as our standard of comparison and our graph. It could have just been the coordinatior.

[phillies413]

has anyone been to any competitions yet this year? what kind of experiments have been given out?

[quizbowl]

The regional one involved parachutes. It was a pain to make, especially when they gave our group childproof scissors >.>. What I was upset about is that each team was provided a rubric of what to do - it really made the competition much easier.

[zyzzyva980]

I have. We've built your average ramp with a clipboard and some weights, gone Barbie bungee jumping with a rubber band, meter stick, and- you guessed it- a barbie doll, and had to calculate density of an object with no practical scale, (a triangular block of wood)

[Anime Girl]

I know i might seem very dumb, but my friend wants to know what would you do in Experimental Design.

[zyzzyva980]

/points at the wiki

Long story short: Make an experiment. Do experiment. Write-up experiment in correct form.