Hovercraft B/C

[ericlepanda]

Are we supposed to cover the bottom of the lift fan on the hovercraft?

[Tesel]

Technically yes, depends on how strict the supervisor is, but you should cover it.

[reed303]

Are we supposed to cover the bottom of the lift fan on the hovercraft?

We got penalized at an Invitational for not covering the bottom. Most teams had not

[Ashernoel]

Are we supposed to cover the bottom of the lift fan on the hovercraft?

We got penalized at an Invitational for not covering the bottom. Most teams had not

Was your skirt porous? If it were, then that would be pretty crazy

[antoine_ego]

Are we supposed to cover the bottom of the lift fan on the hovercraft?

We got penalized at an Invitational for not covering the bottom. Most teams had not

Was your skirt porous? If it were, then that would be pretty crazy

How would you do a porous skirt? What material would you use?

[reed303]

Are we supposed to cover the bottom of the lift fan on the hovercraft?

We got penalized at an Invitational for not covering the bottom. Most teams had not

Was your skirt porous? If it were, then that would be pretty crazy

No, the skirt was "normal". What the judge wanted was the hole in the base for the lift fan needed to be shielded with <1/4" mesh. What we've done is use the material (mesh bags) that some grocery store produce comes in (small onions or potatoes).

[ericlepanda]

Right now for our hovercraft we're using about 8 Energizer Ultimate Lithium 9v batteries connected in parallel. However, these batteries only have 750 mAh. Is there a better option or is what we're using the best option for performance?

[Dave Hasse]

As an event supervisor, is not having proper screening being considered a safety dq or a construction violation? I ruled it a construction violation on the day of the C event partly because I would have dq'ed 1/2 the teams, but wanted to see what the consensus was. I also run the same event in three weeks for B.

For the C event, is calculus based physics appropriate? What is a math good standard for B?

[Unome]

As an event supervisor, is not having proper screening being considered a safety dq or a construction violation? I ruled it a construction violation on the day of the C event partly because I would have dq'ed 1/2 the teams, but wanted to see what the consensus was. I also run the same event in three weeks for B.

For the C event, is calculus based physics appropriate? What is a math good standard for B?

I can speak to one of your three questions: generally calculus is not used in Science Olympiad. This seems to be somewhat of a consensus among event supervisors nationally (someone more familiar with the matter can probably give more info).

[bernard]

As an event supervisor, is not having proper screening being considered a safety dq or a construction violation? I ruled it a construction violation on the day of the C event partly because I would have dq'ed 1/2 the teams, but wanted to see what the consensus was. I also run the same event in three weeks for B.

For the C event, is calculus based physics appropriate? What is a math good standard for B?

From the national website's Scoring Guidelines: "Any device which, in the judgment of the Event Supervisor, is a safety hazard to competitors, judges, or spectators, will not be allowed to compete and will be listed as a P (Participation) for the raw score on the score sheet and will be awarded N points."

If I were supervising, I would not let teams without safe screening compete. If there is screening with holes too large that a finger cannot pass through, I would score it as a Construction Violation. But if the smallest finger can pass through, I would call it unsafe to test.

I don't write tests for Hovercraft but regardless of the event I don't put calculus on any of my tests. Calculus is often not taught until junior and senior year, and you may have freshmen and sophomores competing.