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How'd you do?

Hey CaseyOtis, how'd you do in Experimental Design at states? Also, how were water quality and forestry? It's funny because we are in all the same events so I always see ur name on the forums.

CA States was well-run and interesting! We were given hydrogen peroxide, potato/chicken liver/spinach samples, hot/cold/room temp water, salt, and a few acids/bases among various equipment. Our prompt was to use hydrogen peroxide in a reaction. We decided to do how does temp. affect the performance of a potato enzyme, and although we didn't medal, we didn't completely fail like I have done the last two times!

Cjkowalcz wrote:Hey CaseyOtis, how'd you do in Experimental Design at states? Also, how were water quality and forestry? It's funny because we are in all the same events so I always see ur name on the forums.

Gosh, we did very poorly in Exp. Design (18th, I think). I was actually surprised, because our experiment was pretty well-developed. We were kind of pressed for time though, because we started it quickly, and lost a lot of points for things that we couldn't do because we were rushed. Anyways, we were given three popsicle sticks, a plastic spoon, ten pennies, masking tape, a small paperclip, and a large paperclip, and we had to make an experiment that had to do with a cantilever. We did an experiment where we tested the flex of the three materials (wood, plastic, and metal) when placing the same amount of pennies on. We folded the paper clip so it extended 13 cm, and taped the three materials so they were all extending out 13cm. Then, we taped a fulcrum to the top of all three of them (another popsicle stick) so the force exerted would be the same. Then, we tested the flex of each material by measuring the amount it dipped down under the force of the pennies. We finished a graph and all of the required parts, but we did very little qualitative observations or anything like that. We basically did the bare minimum and a bit more, under the time pressure. It was actually pretty fun, and a great learning experience.

I got 10th in Water Quality and 7th in Forestry. >.> No medals for me.

That sounds tough. How did you measure the flex? Was it like a rating you gave yourself like 1-5? Or did you just say it flexed "3 cm" under the weight.

Cjkowalcz wrote:That sounds tough. How did you measure the flex? Was it like a rating you gave yourself like 1-5? Or did you just say it flexed "3 cm" under the weight.

We measured it; we held a ruler at where the cantilever was at rest and where it was when the weight was on it.

Man, that sounds like a more challenging one. If you didn't know what a cantilever was you were done for!
And does states grade Exp. Designs differently? I find this event tricky because sometime the correct answers vary based on the test grader?

Cjkowalcz wrote:Man, that sounds like a more challenging one. If you didn't know what a cantilever was you were done for!
And does states grade Exp. Designs differently? I find this event tricky because sometime the correct answers vary based on the test grader?

Well, it gave a definition. We had a Boomi kid, which was somewhat of an advantage.
I don't know. .-. I really don't. It has to do with what information is there and how accurately the experiment could be replicated, I think.

Well we have a boomi kid too, although I wouldn't say he's an expert builder. I wouldn't even consider him a builder! Anyways I hope that our experiment is just mechanical advantage or something like that. I think that paper airplanes would be fun like last years Regionals.

I wish I went to your regionals, that sounds fun.