Page 2 of 6
Re: Technical Problem Solving C
Posted: October 14th, 2011, 11:39 am
by Phenylethylamine
cngu23 wrote:Isn't it possible to determine the gravitational acceleration using only one pendulum? I remember doing a lab like this in Physics last year, where we only had to measure the length of the pendulum, and the period/ frequency.
I guess the second pendulum could be used to validate the results of the first one?
Yes, the idea of having two pendulums is to get a more accurate result.
Re: Technical Problem Solving C
Posted: October 21st, 2011, 9:09 pm
by nkprasad12
ichaelm wrote:Just keep in mind, they will provide you with any formulas you might need, so you don't actually need to memorize them.
Is this really true?
Re: Technical Problem Solving C
Posted: October 22nd, 2011, 10:57 am
by ichaelm
Yes, according to the event parameters, event supervisors must provide a list of mathematical relationships, formulas, or constants.
Re: Technical Problem Solving C
Posted: October 24th, 2011, 4:15 pm
by cngu23
nkprasad12 wrote:ichaelm wrote:Just keep in mind, they will provide you with any formulas you might need, so you don't actually need to memorize them.
Is this really true?
They give you like all the formulas related to chemistry, physics, and geometric math concepts. You won't need many of them.
Re: Technical Problem Solving C
Posted: October 24th, 2011, 5:56 pm
by nkprasad12
So I don't need to memorize countless equations?
How does one prepare for this then?
Re: Technical Problem Solving C
Posted: October 25th, 2011, 4:59 am
by cngu23
nkprasad12 wrote:So I don't need to memorize countless equations?
How does one prepare for this then?
Do practice problems relating to physics and chemistry and also some general math problems relating to geometry and volume calculation. Scroll through the test bank section to view past tests. You don't have to memorize the formulas but be sure to know them and how to use them.
Re: Technical Problem Solving C
Posted: January 31st, 2012, 9:41 pm
by gigaboo
Does anyone know where I can find problems relating to this year's rules? I've found what's on soinc.org, but there really isn't much information. This event just seems hard to know how you will do in relation to other teams.
Re: Technical Problem Solving C
Posted: February 1st, 2012, 4:30 am
by cngu23
gigaboo wrote:Does anyone know where I can find problems relating to this year's rules? I've found what's on soinc.org, but there really isn't much information. This event just seems hard to know how you will do in relation to other teams.
It's a really broad event, and almost any problems relating to physics or chemistry may appear. They may give you a random shaped object and with a ruler, ask you to estimate the volume or surface area.
Re: Technical Problem Solving C
Posted: February 1st, 2012, 11:33 pm
by gigaboo
How important will significant figures be? Do most event coordinators judge on that, or would it be better to give more exact answers?
Re: Technical Problem Solving C
Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 8:05 am
by butter side up
gigaboo wrote:How important will significant figures be? Do most event coordinators judge on that, or would it be better to give more exact answers?
Sig figs are really important. We typically report each answer or step with correct sig figs, but continue to do your calculations with the full numbers in your calculator to get the most accurate final answer possible.