Machines B/C

[Adi1008]

Machines B/C: Teams will complete a written test on simple and compound machine concepts and construct a lever-based measuring device prior to the tournament to determine the ratio between two masses.

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Simple Machines Test Exchange 2020 | Compound Machines Test Exchange 2020

Past Threads: 2014, 2015, 2020

Past Question Marathons: 2014, 2015, 2020

[Vortexx2]

For invitationals that are running the build portion of Machines, does anyone know how that would work? I have an invitational soon that has the build part but would it not be impossible to distribute exact weights to each time? I'm very confused.

[Vortexx2]

For invitationals that are running the build portion of Machines, does anyone know how that would work? I have an invitational soon that has the build part but would it not be impossible to distribute exact weights to each time? I'm very confused.

This is fairly dependent on the tournament, most of them have a different way of doing things. If you poke around on their website, you probably will find some information about how most events with a hands-on portion will be run. For example, Boyceville satellite will have coaches assemble the masses using instructions provided by the ES.

If you can't find any information on the website, you can always contact the tournament director to ask about it.

[JustDroobles]

The rules specify for the Division B test that there will not be compound machines or combinations of machines.

Does this mean that systems of multiple pulleys are not allowed to be tested for Division B?

It also specifies that gears can be included but that I suppose must include multiple gears.

[joybattey1@gmail.com]

From my experience systems of multiple pulleys are allowed, just not a pully combined with an inclined plane. And yes, it would include multiple gears but not gears in combination with any other simple machine.

[RiverWalker88]

I submitted an FAQ about this last week or so. For the time being, though, I would suspect that systems of multiple pulleys are allowed.

[SciolySid]

Hi,
I had a quick question:
When we are mailed the masses for the build portion, will the masses have a loop on them, or will we have to manually keep the loop on it?

[gz839918]

Hi,
I had a quick question:
When we are mailed the masses for the build portion, will the masses have a loop on them, or will we have to manually keep the loop on it?

Hi Sid! Can you tell us which tournament you're talking about? Each tournament has different people who are running things differently, so we won't be able to properly answer your question without knowing what tournament it is.

By the way, for tournament-specific questions, you usually get a better answer by asking in the specific tournament thread. I'm letting you know in case you want to ask more questions in the future, but don't worry, you're not in trouble right now! This is just our way of making sure that people who actually know the answer for your tournament will see your question

[Spook]

Does anyone know in general, how many pages/questions the Machines test will be? In my first invitational, it was about fifty questions but I was wondering if this would stay about the same.

[Spook]

Does anyone know in general, how many pages/questions the Machines test will be? In my first invitational, it was about fifty questions but I was wondering if this would stay about the same.

There are general trends, but it is heavily dependent on who writes it. Some writers far underestimate teams and the exam is really short, while some writers are a little on the excessive side and write an exam that nobody could finish in 50 minutes. For invitationals, I would expect to see this variability--writers are extremely varied--for invitationals. Generally in a regional (this is dependent too, but generally), you won't see a very long, complicated test (I can't give a definite question amount, but probably doable). For a state test... I'd assume similar to an invitational--no definite trends, heavily dependent on the writer (I have no idea what to expect for machines at state, I assume our 5-question state test was not typical).