Metric Mastery B

[hscmom]

I am still kind of stuck on how to prepare for competition. At competition it seems to be much more difficult than simple estimation and measurement. How do I prepare for things like: A disc with multiple holes, of different sizes, and find the area of one of the circles? Or estimate the temperature of a container of water in a hot room with huge amounts of people inside? It seems that even if you prepare and practice a lot, it's almost impossible to know how you will do at competition. Any help?

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Well, it IS impossible to know what they'll throw at you in competition. I coached this event and started with the very basics (length, capacity of containers) and then added a few challenges (find area of this paper with this shape cut out of it or maybe find the sum of the masses of this box of toys) as they got better. Since we're surrounded by things that have measurements all the time (a can of pop, a paper plate, the height of a room, etc.) we just tried to do a little each day. And if I saw that the pair I was coaching was struggling with a certain type of estimation, we made sure to do it a lot. We also tried to talk metric a lot. We've got a digital thermometer in the kitchen that shows the room temperature and the outdoor temperature via sensor on the deck. We switched it to metric mode and often step outside and try to guess the temp. Drives my husband bonkers to say, "Oh, it feels really cool in here today; what is it, about 19 or so?"

So, I guess I the best way to prepare IS to practice, practice, practice. You will get some zingers at competition that you really can't prepare for, but at least with tons of practice, you can make an educated guess. And, a good competition will have a nice combination of these impossible stations and more logical ones (capacity of a bottle, length of a line, etc.).

This year they added the third section. Have the kids learn how to reliably do those math problems. We still are having issues with them, but I figure by 2014, we'll be consistent in them.

And, like any SO event, decide who does what. Have the neater hand-writer write answers (so that a 7 doesn't look like a 1, and a 0 doesn't look like a 6, etc.)! And, if one kid is crunching numbers in a calculator, the other kid should be looking over his or her shoulder to double-check.

Good luck! It's a really fun event and the skills you get practicing in it serve SO students well in other events.

[knittingfrenzy18]

How do you guys practice with volume/force/density and stuff like that? My sister and I were sitting at the lunch table the other day (she's on the secondary team on the event) and I was like, what's the volume of that salad dressing bottle? Yeah, we could try and estimate, but it's not as easy to measure and check yourself. Sister suggested pouring water in and measuring the water, but not so realistic when there's still salad dressing in it. Then what do you do about not so prism-ish solid things you can't even pour water into? And how would you measure the force of a door hinged onto the wall? The density of a vacuum cleaner (which is not only nearly impossible to weigh, it's impossible to find the volume of)?

Or did I already get too bored of measuring the normal stuff?

[treeling]

Even after going through your tips hscmom, I am still kind of stuck on how to prepare for competition. At competition it seems to be much more difficult than simple estimation and measurement. How do I prepare for things like: A disc with multiple holes, of different sizes, and find the area of one of the circles? Or estimate the temperature of a container of water in a hot room with huge amounts of people inside? It seems that even if you prepare and practice a lot, it's almost impossible to know how you will do at competition. Any help?

It's hard to know what there is going to be at competition. Very hard to know. Expect to have a pendulum. I've had one at EVERY competition. Learn the periods for lengths (5cm-4m). That helped a lot. Ask me any questions you have!

[treeling]

How do you guys practice with volume/force/density and stuff like that? My sister and I were sitting at the lunch table the other day (she's on the secondary team on the event) and I was like, what's the volume of that salad dressing bottle? Yeah, we could try and estimate, but it's not as easy to measure and check yourself. Sister suggested pouring water in and measuring the water, but not so realistic when there's still salad dressing in it. Then what do you do about not so prism-ish solid things you can't even pour water into? And how would you measure the force of a door hinged onto the wall? The density of a vacuum cleaner (which is not only nearly impossible to weigh, it's impossible to find the volume of)?

Or did I already get too bored of measuring the normal stuff?

I just saw your post.

Volume:To measure unusual objects you can us water! You can dunk the object into the water and see how much it displaces (like you start with 300ml, put the object in... now it is 614ml. Then you subtract the total from the amount you started with, so 614-300=314, that object would be 314ml), also you can put it in a container with water all the way up to the top, push the object in all the way. Catch the water in a pan or something. Measure how much water is in the pan, and that is how to measure volume of a weird object. Of course you can't do that with a vacuum cleaner, but it would be unlikely to find something like that at competition.

Force: I've only had 1 object with force at any competition. I wouldn't worry about a lot. Force is measured in Newtons. Also, you measure weight in Newtons. I would say, just be ready to convert grams to Newtons (kilogram times 9.81= Newton). Also, get a feel for what a newton feels like. Force hasn't been a big part of the competition at all.

Density: Density is easy to measure. Density can be measured in grams/ml. So you get the mass of the object (let's say 28 grams) then you get the volume of the object (48ml). Then you dived the mass (28 grams) by the volume (48ml). So 28/48= 0.538 g/ml. At the test, if the ask for density, and ask for it in kg/l... DON'T FREAK OUT!!! It's exactly the same.


At Nats. they did have some weird things. DO MEASURE WEIRD THINGS.

One thing I would do if I were you would be memorize Metric Prefixes (all the way from Yotta to Yocto). Also be able to convert really fast.

Have fun with the event.

[treeling]

Even after going through your tips hscmom, I am still kind of stuck on how to prepare for competition. At competition it seems to be much more difficult than simple estimation and measurement. How do I prepare for things like: A disc with multiple holes, of different sizes, and find the area of one of the circles? Or estimate the temperature of a container of water in a hot room with huge amounts of people inside? It seems that even if you prepare and practice a lot, it's almost impossible to know how you will do at competition. Any help?

At competition it really is impossible to know what they are going to throw at you. Preparing for competition can be stressful.

I'll use your example of a disc with holes in it.

What I would do is, practice.

How to measure the disc:
I would first find the area of the disc. (let's say 500 cm squared)
Then I would look to see if the holes were all the same size, if the were I would measure a hole and get the are of the hole (19 cm squared)
Then I would count the holes (let's say there are 12 holes)
Then I would multiply the #of holes to the area of the hole (19 times 12=228)
Now, I would subtract the area of the disc (600) , by the area taken up by the holes (228). So in the case, the answer would be 372.

NOW, if the holes were not the same size, I would measure the area of the holes (write down the areas on the back of my paper) and then subtract the added up area of the holes by the area of the disc.


NOW FOR THE WATER:
Just get use to the temperature of water (in celsius of course). Be ready to convert celsius to kelvin (celsuis times 274.15= kelvin). Remember, Kelvin is not measured in degrees.


I hope I helped. Also the advice hscmom gave helps a lot.

[randomguy1234]

Does anybody have any good test or ideas of how to study for Metric Mastery Thank You

[treeling]

Does anybody have any good test or ideas of how to study for Metric Mastery Thank You

Practice, ALOT. It never hurts to practice,

Ideas:
Go around your kitchen and measure some objects (for mass).

[Beastybob12345]

I just take whatever's next to me and weigh it. I have a pretty long list going right now...the more you measure and weigh, the better prepared you will be.

Oh, and just a question, we're not allowed to touch ANYTHING during the competition right? This is my first year doing Metric.

Thanks

[hscmom]

I just take whatever's next to me and weigh it. I have a pretty long list going right now...the more you measure and weigh, the better prepared you will be.

Oh, and just a question, we're not allowed to touch ANYTHING during the competition right? This is my first year doing Metric.

Thanks

During the estimating part of the competition, you may heft (lift up and feel the weight) things for which you are estimating mass or weight. That's because you cannot always tell what you are dealing with just by looking. If you are asked to estimate the mass of a box, you cannot tell by looking if the box contains air, bricks, or something in between. So, you can heft it and feel how heavy it is in your hands.

Of course, during the measurement part, you can handle the objects.

[awesome90220]

Even after going through your tips hscmom, I am still kind of stuck on how to prepare for competition. At competition it seems to be much more difficult than simple estimation and measurement. How do I prepare for things like: A disc with multiple holes, of different sizes, and find the area of one of the circles? Or estimate the temperature of a container of water in a hot room with huge amounts of people inside? It seems that even if you prepare and practice a lot, it's almost impossible to know how you will do at competition. Any help?

At competition it really is impossible to know what they are going to throw at you. Preparing for competition can be stressful.

I'll use your example of a disc with holes in it.

What I would do is, practice.

How to measure the disc:
I would first find the area of the disc. (let's say 500 cm squared)
Then I would look to see if the holes were all the same size, if the were I would measure a hole and get the are of the hole (19 cm squared)
Then I would count the holes (let's say there are 12 holes)
Then I would multiply the #of holes to the area of the hole (19 times 12=228)
Now, I would subtract the area of the disc (600) , by the area taken up by the holes (228). So in the case, the answer would be 372.

NOW, if the holes were not the same size, I would measure the area of the holes (write down the areas on the back of my paper) and then subtract the added up area of the holes by the area of the disc.


NOW FOR THE WATER:
Just get use to the temperature of water (in celsius of course). Be ready to convert celsius to kelvin (celsuis times 274.15= kelvin). Remember, Kelvin is not measured in degrees.


I hope I helped. Also the advice hscmom gave helps a lot.

plus 273.15, not times