Materials Science C

[therealmobius]

I've been in the same situation for a while now. I'm not terribly sure of what to go over, basically resulting with me jumping between a college textbook and basic chemical/physical information If anyone at all goes to an invitational, PLEASE post about what you'd experienced!

Please? I have cookies.

(Now if only my school didn't cancel our inviational trip...)

[Blinquepyre]

Well my first invite is on January 12th and I'll be participating in Materials Science (I believe, if i dont have any others at that time) so i'll post my findings with you guys about Materials.

[meggers1221]

i honestly cannot think of how a lab portion would exist in this event? i get there would be a test over different characteristics of materials, but a lab?

[meggers1221]

i apologize for the double posting but i have heard viscosity may be tested in the lab part of the event

[sercle]

So has anybody who has done the event know how it is run and what the test/lab is like?

[Briscon]

Hey everyone. I'm in the process of writing the Wiki for this event. If there is anything unclear on there or if I'm missing something, let me know so I can improve it.

[honks]

I've done this event twice now. So far, there has been NO labs; it was just a written test both times.

About half of it is chemistry, and half of it is material-science related problem solving. At the last invitational, the team placing ahead of me scored high by 0.1 points-kinda crazy! Details like showing the formula, significant figures, units are definitely important.

The test writer at the Solon invitational recommended buying a Introduction to MatSci textbook on amazon. It doesn't have to be the latest edition since this event tests only the basics. I bought one for about $4, but I haven't looked too in depth into it.

[Skink]

At the last invitational, the team placing ahead of me scored high by 0.1 points-kinda crazy!

That may have been a tiebreaker. Adding 0.1 is a standard convention for a tiebreaker winner.

[andrewwski]

Supervised this event at a regional competition over the weekend - some advice and things to know based on the most common mistakes:

-Young's Modulus is a function of stress and strain. Stress is force/area and force is mass*acceleration. Strain is the change in length/original length. Stress does not have units of mass, and strain does not have units of distance. The other way around is not true either! You should know the units for stress and strain (or that strain doesn't have one)!
-When a term such as creep is defined for you, pay attention! If you didn't measure it correctly, or used the wrong units, that's easy points you lost! Read every question.
-Material classes - know how to classify items into them. Many teams got most of these wrong - know the difference between the material types, and common materials that fall into each.
-Crystal structures - the event specs specifically mention packing factor - so it'd be a good idea to know the common ones, and where they come from.

And general test taking tips - if it's multiple choice and there's no penalty for guessing...write down an answer! You'd think it'd be obvious, but more than one team left several multiple choice questions blank.

[wlsguy]

Supervised this event at a regional competition over the weekend - some advice and things to know based on the most common mistakes:

-Young's Modulus is a function of stress and strain. Stress is force/area and force is mass*acceleration. Strain is the change in length/original length. Stress does not have units of mass, and strain does not have units of distance. The other way around is not true either! You should know the units for stress and strain (or that strain doesn't have one)!
-When a term such as creep is defined for you, pay attention! If you didn't measure it correctly, or used the wrong units, that's easy points you lost! Read every question.
-Material classes - know how to classify items into them. Many teams got most of these wrong - know the difference between the material types, and common materials that fall into each.
-Crystal structures - the event specs specifically mention packing factor - so it'd be a good idea to know the common ones, and where they come from.

And general test taking tips - if it's multiple choice and there's no penalty for guessing...write down an answer! You'd think it'd be obvious, but more than one team left several multiple choice questions blank.

I'm curious , what was the lab at the Regional Competition?
At most invitationals, I have not seen a lab and it has been only a paper test (not entirely within the spirit of the rules for the event).
When I ran it at the Northview competition, the lab portion involved measuring and plotting Young's Modulus using the cantilever method.

I'm just worried, unless event supervisors figure out some associated labs, this event will end up being only a paper test.
I would also like to know what other have done since I will run this event 2 more times this season.