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What kind of distances are people getting/seeing?

3Kg CW and golf ball 23-26meters. 2Kg CW and same projectile 16-18 meters. Traditional Treb, not a FAT.

What do you get with your great FAT and 1Kg CW and a golf ball?

crazyhorse wrote:3Kg CW and golf ball 23-26meters. 2Kg CW and same projectile 16-18 meters. Traditional Treb, not a FAT.

What do you get with your great FAT and 1Kg CW and a golf ball?

The "great" FATs will probably throw ~35m and 23m respectively.

wlsguy wrote:The "great" FATs will probably throw ~35m and 23m respectively.

Is that ~35m with 3kg golf ball and 23m with 2kg golf ball?

Friedoyster3 wrote:

wlsguy wrote:The "great" FATs will probably throw ~35m and 23m respectively.

Is that ~35m with 3kg golf ball and 23m with 2kg golf ball?

Yes, but these are estimates. Golf balls (~45g) tend to throw farther than other projectiles (because of their nature).
I think most teams with FATs tend to start overshooting the gym if they receive a 2kg+ counterweight.
Actually, I have never seen above a 2.0kg counterweight in competition because of the problems with limited space.

starpug wrote:

brobo wrote:So apperently CW's are too expensive for our school to buy just to do a few tests... is anyone else having this problem? If so, what are you using as CW's?

Currently we were able to borrow a team mate's pencil bag and fill it with some wieghts so that it is exactly 1kg, then we took two plastic bags and filled them with wieghts so that they are both 1kg each. Then to make the pencil bag 1kg, all you have to is put one or both of the plastic bags into it. It seems pretty accurate, but is there a better way?

You can't make counterweights yourself with ABS or PVC pipe filled with some sort of weight to 1 kg?

I agree with him im just using PVC pipe with some nuts and bolts in it my coach says at stae(for us at least) there going to use a hook with washers and nuts on it

At my regional they had pvc pipe filled with weight to 2.4 kilos. Except only my team had a FAT. Our first launch was great but then for some reason the next went to late and the last threw backwords (well actually it rolled out but…)

Littleboy wrote:At my regional they had pvc pipe filled with weight to 2.4 kilos. Except only my team had a FAT. Our first launch was great but then for some reason the next went to late and the last threw backwords (well actually it rolled out but…)

Well, as you are in Michigan as well, I may try to hope for a similar weight so that I can try to test with one!
Competition this Saturday!

As you may or may not know, we on the national rules committees at Science Olympiad begin work about this time every year on updating the rules for next year. We have a general policy of trying to make at least one significant change to each returning event (not all events return every year - they rotate in and out every so often), as well as trying to correct issues that required clarifications or FAQs.

The day after Nationals we (the national event supervisors, state directors, etc. etc.) always have a big meeting where we hash out issues face to face and try to come up with a near final version of the new rules. While many of us (myself included) are former competitors, in general we don't get direct input from current competitors during this process, although we do get some input from some coaches who happen to be involved at the national level.

Thus, as the Physical Sciences Committee chair, I've decided to try an experiment this year. Storm the Castle is tentatively scheduled to return next year (2011-2012 season). What specific changes would you make to the rules? I'm open to all suggestions (small and large), but can't promise we'll actually implement any of them. Feel free to post ideas here or send me a PM if you'd like.

Just a question, will be Storm the Castle next year for Division C?