Materials Science C

[AllenWang314]

On the event description it says: "For States and National tournaments: Resistance to fracture (Fracture toughness), Resistance to repetitive strain ..." etc. But it didn't say for "States and Nationals ONLY" (which it did for chemistry lab). So can these topics show up on invitationals tests?

[EastStroudsburg13]

On the event description it says: "For States and National tournaments: Resistance to fracture (Fracture toughness), Resistance to repetitive strain ..." etc. But it didn't say for "States and Nationals ONLY" (which it did for chemistry lab). So can these topics show up on invitationals tests?

Yes, those topics can, and are likely to, show up on invitational tests. This should especially be expected at competitive invitationals that are hosting various teams that expect to contend for nationals.

[hearthstone224]

Hey guys, do you think going through previous years tests and trying to understand the material would be a good idea?

I didn't see any previous conversation on how the test has changed, so what do you all think about that?

Thanks.

[jonmui28]

Just wondering, do we have to learn calculus for this event? I'm a junior, so I take calculus next year, but I noticed that derivatives are used to determine creep while differentials are used to determine viscosity. In other words, do we have to compute numerical for creep or viscosity, or are we going to be required to qualitatively determine them (for example, listing liquids in order of increasing viscosity)?

Thanks!

[hearthstone224]

I mean, probably not in my opinion. I don't think Science Olympiad would do that because what if you don't know calculus? Plenty of underclassmen don't know calculus so it would be a bit cruel.

[EastStroudsburg13]

Hey guys, do you think going through previous years tests and trying to understand the material would be a good idea?

I didn't see any previous conversation on how the test has changed, so what do you all think about that?

Thanks.

I'm not super familiar with past tests, but I can't imagine they are not at least very similar in terms of content. Materials science is pretty standard as a field at this level.

Just wondering, do we have to learn calculus for this event? I'm a junior, so I take calculus next year, but I noticed that derivatives are used to determine creep while differentials are used to determine viscosity. In other words, do we have to compute numerical for creep or viscosity, or are we going to be required to qualitatively determine them (for example, listing liquids in order of increasing viscosity)?

Thanks!

They will probably not have you use pure calculus. However, they may well give you a set of hypothetical experimental data, and say "find the creep of this material based on the data". So you're not taking a mathematical derivative per se, but you're taking the rate of change for different intervals, which falls more under the sort of algebra that is typically required for Division C, even though it's technically based on calculus.

[Skink]

I don't believe the Callister book covers contact angle, surface wetting, surface tension, etc. The Askeland & Haddleton book does cover most of that. (Typically, "Materials Science" refers to solids, which is what most introductory courses will focus on - although this event also applies to liquids - so you may not see those topics in every Materials Science reference).

This answers a question I asked in YDRC during the preseason; thank you. We've been mostly relying on Callister with supplementary materials from elsewhere, but I'll locate a copy of this now.

[ReverseCold]

According to Wikipedia creep begins to occur at around 35% of the melting point of a metal. On one of the tests in the exchange (New York State, Q5), it gives a metal with a melting point of 1240C and asks to find what temperature the metal will creep at. 35% of 1240 is 434, which made me choose A. The key says C. How does one get C? (231C)

[Unome]

According to Wikipedia creep begins to occur at around 35% of the melting point of a metal. On one of the tests in the exchange (New York State, Q5), it gives a metal with a melting point of 1240C and asks to find what temperature the metal will creep at. 35% of 1240 is 434, which made me choose A. The key says C. How does one get C? (231C)

Conversion to Kelvin gets pretty close.

[angelnugroho]

Hey ya'll! I'm planning on competing in Materials Science and I'm trying get study materials. The materials science wiki page seems to have issues loading images for some pretty important terms and subjects.
For instance, on the list of basic terms it comes up with this:
Stress - Force per unit area. Represented by Failed to parse (PNG conversion failed; check for correct installation of latex and dvipng (or dvips + gs + convert)): \sigma

I don't think it's a problem on just my end, so here's hoping this gets fixed soon or isn't too important
Thanks!