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Fibonacci924 wrote:*When your old blades fit the new rules* Too bad Wind Power is competitive at my school...

Wind Power isn't really competitive where I go, but back on topic a bit, last year, did you all prefer to use airfoil shaped balsa, rectangular balsa or do you prefer using some other material? I'm just curious to see what the general thoughts are.

daydreamer0023 wrote:

Fibonacci924 wrote:*When your old blades fit the new rules* Too bad Wind Power is competitive at my school...

Wind Power isn't really competitive where I go, but back on topic a bit, last year, did you all prefer to use airfoil shaped balsa, rectangular balsa or do you prefer using some other material? I'm just curious to see what the general thoughts are.

My blades still work too And to answer your question daydreamer, I always preferred using airfoiled balsa. It increased the efficiency of the blades by about 30-60%, depending on the type and quality of the airfoil. If you want more tips on the airfoil specifically, DM me and I can give you a ton of info on it.

calvin102111 wrote:

daydreamer0023 wrote:

Fibonacci924 wrote:*When your old blades fit the new rules* Too bad Wind Power is competitive at my school...

Wind Power isn't really competitive where I go, but back on topic a bit, last year, did you all prefer to use airfoil shaped balsa, rectangular balsa or do you prefer using some other material? I'm just curious to see what the general thoughts are.

My blades still work too And to answer your question daydreamer, I always preferred using airfoiled balsa. It increased the efficiency of the blades by about 30-60%, depending on the type and quality of the airfoil. If you want more tips on the airfoil specifically, DM me and I can give you a ton of info on it.

...this is not Instagram...

Chalker, I hate to ask this so far after the fact, but can you tell us the top 10 voltages/exam scores at Nationals last year? Those results are not on the "Test Packet" CD (that has the exams/scores from select National events) we bought from the Science Olympiad Store this year. Was there a specific reason those results were not disclosed this year?

In the diagram below, where does the Volt Meter probe goes? A, B, C? or does it matter?

soyuppy wrote:In the diagram below, where does the Volt Meter probe goes? A, B, C? or does it matter?

CD Volt Meter Diag.png

I would think C, since the resistor is needed to lower the current, but I'm not entirely sure.

soyuppy wrote:In the diagram below, where does the Volt Meter probe goes? A, B, C? or does it matter?

Any will work since the voltmeter takes negligible current, but I normally use position B.
Position C is really position B with longer voltmeter leads, so positions B and C will give the same reading.
Position A could read slightly higher due to the very small voltage drop in the wire between the measurement points and the resistor terminals, but given the low resistance of the wire you would be hard pushed to see the difference.

Anybody heard of using fiberglass as a blade?

PHXcoach wrote:

soyuppy wrote:In the diagram below, where does the Volt Meter probe goes? A, B, C? or does it matter?

Any will work since the voltmeter takes negligible current, but I normally use position B.
Position C is really position B with longer voltmeter leads, so positions B and C will give the same reading.
Position A could read slightly higher due to the very small voltage drop in the wire between the measurement points and the resistor terminals, but given the low resistance of the wire you would be hard pushed to see the difference.

Thanks. I have the hook clip lead on the volt-meter. So this mean I can just clip the CD lead+Resistor lead+volt meter lead all together, i.e. pos B. I don't need to have extra lead beyond the resistor.

soyuppy wrote:

PHXcoach wrote:

soyuppy wrote:In the diagram below, where does the Volt Meter probe goes? A, B, C? or does it matter?

Any will work since the voltmeter takes negligible current, but I normally use position B.
Position C is really position B with longer voltmeter leads, so positions B and C will give the same reading.
Position A could read slightly higher due to the very small voltage drop in the wire between the measurement points and the resistor terminals, but given the low resistance of the wire you would be hard pushed to see the difference.

Thanks. I have the hook clip lead on the volt-meter. So this mean I can just clip the CD lead+Resistor lead+volt meter lead all together, i.e. pos B. I don't need to have extra lead beyond the resistor.

Have you looked at the rules this year? We added a diagram that shows exactly this since there was so much confusion about it last year.