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Re: Water Quality B/C

Posted: February 23rd, 2014, 3:29 pm
by PacificGoldenPlover
I have.

Re: Water Quality B/C

Posted: February 24th, 2014, 12:44 pm
by darkdeserthighway
PacificGoldenPlover wrote:I have.
Just out of curiosity, in what context?

Re: Water Quality B/C

Posted: February 24th, 2014, 4:58 pm
by alczha
If my team doesn't make a hydrometer, will we get disqualified? One of my friends said that his hydrometer broke right before the competition and he got dq'd. Now, I'm not sure if that's true or not, but is that supposed to happen?

Re: Water Quality B/C

Posted: February 24th, 2014, 5:09 pm
by cupcakegirl
alczha wrote:If my team doesn't make a hydrometer, will we get disqualified? One of my friends said that his hydrometer broke right before the competition and he got dq'd. Now, I'm not sure if that's true or not, but is that supposed to happen?
No....I've seen many teams not bring a salinometer and no one has ever gotten DQ'd. Your friend should've just been allowed to guess on those questions and be ranked normally....

Re: Water Quality B/C

Posted: February 24th, 2014, 6:20 pm
by fozendog
cupcakegirl wrote:
alczha wrote:If my team doesn't make a hydrometer, will we get disqualified? One of my friends said that his hydrometer broke right before the competition and he got dq'd. Now, I'm not sure if that's true or not, but is that supposed to happen?
No....I've seen many teams not bring a salinometer and no one has ever gotten DQ'd. Your friend should've just been allowed to guess on those questions and be ranked normally....
Yeah, you shouldn't be DQ'd, but it would be useful to just make a simple one out of a straw and some clay so you can get those points. Max. time to construct and calibrate with 0%, 5%, and 10% solutions would be 45 minutes.

Re: Water Quality B/C

Posted: February 24th, 2014, 6:40 pm
by megan
Sorry to intrude, but I recently went to an invitational and encountered a question that's a bit puzzling. How would you answer this:

Q: Which of the organisms below (a-e) has a symbiotic relationship with coral?

a. gorgonia
b. long-spined black sea urchin
c. hard coral
d. pencil urchin
e. crown of thorns starfish

The only symbiotic relationship I know of involving coral is between zooxanthallae and coral. What are your thoughts?

Re: Water Quality B/C

Posted: February 25th, 2014, 3:52 pm
by silentsage
megan wrote:Sorry to intrude, but I recently went to an invitational and encountered a question that's a bit puzzling. How would you answer this:

Q: Which of the organisms below (a-e) has a symbiotic relationship with coral?

a. gorgonia
b. long-spined black sea urchin
c. hard coral
d. pencil urchin
e. crown of thorns starfish

The only symbiotic relationship I know of involving coral is between zooxanthallae and coral. What are your thoughts?
Well, you are correct in your statement, but as none of these options are zooxanthellae, I would likely say crown of thorns. This is not a symbiotic relationship, as the definition would be with zooxanthellae, it would be a mutualism/predation species interaction. They prey on corals, allowing for diversification, but this would hardly be symbiotic.

Re: Water Quality B/C

Posted: February 25th, 2014, 3:58 pm
by darkdeserthighway
alczha wrote:If my team doesn't make a hydrometer, will we get disqualified? One of my friends said that his hydrometer broke right before the competition and he got dq'd. Now, I'm not sure if that's true or not, but is that supposed to happen?
That shouldn't happen. It is very easy to build a hydrometer/salinometer though, and you should build one to help benefit your performance/placing in competition. It doesn't count that much towards your score, but every point is useful. Check the science olympiad website to find resources for building a salinometer!

Re: Water Quality B/C

Posted: February 25th, 2014, 4:20 pm
by colorado mtn science
CulturallyScientific wrote:Just curious, but has anyone out there seen tests with scientific names (genus/family, etc.) of organisms not listed in the rules?
The rules specifically say that you need common names only, but still there are these people called regionals event supervisors that don't read the rules carefully.

Re: Water Quality B/C

Posted: February 25th, 2014, 4:23 pm
by colorado mtn science
megan wrote:Sorry to intrude, but I recently went to an invitational and encountered a question that's a bit puzzling. How would you answer this:

Q: Which of the organisms below (a-e) has a symbiotic relationship with coral?

a. gorgonia
b. long-spined black sea urchin
c. hard coral
d. pencil urchin
e. crown of thorns starfish

The only symbiotic relationship I know of involving coral is between zooxanthallae and coral. What are your thoughts?
The definition of symbiosis is a relationship between two species where one species benefits. This includes parasitism (not sure about predation, though), so c-o-t starfish might work (p.s. don't always trust inviational tests).