Scioly.org

To be completely technical about it though, the first symbol is a single cell battery and the second is a 2(or multicell) battery, though that distinction is almost never made, and both should be acceptable.

twototwenty wrote:Taking note of the whole "not he place for official clarifications" thing:

To my understanding, graphing calculators are acceptable in this event (Div C). I was wondering, then, if writing a program for my calculator which does some of the circuitry equations for me for the sake of speed would be "against the spirit of the competition", or simply making good use of my resources. What are you guys' interpretations of this?

According to http://soinc.org/node/291, writing a program to solve or simplify circuits is allowed. Furthermore, it would be a good idea to write such a program because of the benefits that you listed. My only recommendation is that you keep a second copy of the program in case you participate in any competitions where calculators that are used must be cleared.

Bozongle wrote:Very confused by what the battery schematic symbol is, some sources say



Others say:



Which symbol should I use at competitions?

each long/short line combo signifies one cell in the battery. most proctors will except either, but if a cell count is given, you should always expect the proctor to want the right amount of cells diagramed.

I'm very confused by this one thing.
Is the geographic north pole near the magnetic south pole, or the magnetic north pole? And vice-versa for the geographic south.
I understand that the geographic poles arent where the magnetic poles are,but some people say the magnetic north pole is near the geographic north pole, but others say the magnetic south pole is near the geographic north pole.
Or am I understanding this all wrong?
I don't want to get this wrong at competition, I also saw this kind of question in the test exchange.

I'm in Shock Value and it deals a lot with magnets, so.

Bozongle wrote:I'm very confused by this one thing.
Is the geographic north pole near the magnetic south pole, or the magnetic north pole? And vice-versa for the geographic south.
I understand that the geographic poles arent where the magnetic poles are,but some people say the magnetic north pole is near the geographic north pole, but others say the magnetic south pole is near the geographic north pole.
Or am I understanding this all wrong?
I don't want to get this wrong at competition, I also saw this kind of question in the test exchange.

I'm in Shock Value and it deals a lot with magnets, so.

Magnetic North Pole is near Geographic North Pole and vice versa. Magnetic is constantly changing (due to electrons on Earth or something), but it is always in its proper hemisphere.

mnstrviola wrote:

Bozongle wrote:I'm very confused by this one thing.
Is the geographic north pole near the magnetic south pole, or the magnetic north pole? And vice-versa for the geographic south.
I understand that the geographic poles arent where the magnetic poles are,but some people say the magnetic north pole is near the geographic north pole, but others say the magnetic south pole is near the geographic north pole.
Or am I understanding this all wrong?
I don't want to get this wrong at competition, I also saw this kind of question in the test exchange.

I'm in Shock Value and it deals a lot with magnets, so.

Magnetic North Pole is near Geographic North Pole and vice versa. Magnetic is constantly changing (due to electrons on Earth or something), but it is always in its proper hemisphere.

Though, there are magnetic reversals (where the magnetic poles will switch.). The next one won't happen for a few thousand years, but it has, and will again. And when it does, the magnetic north pole will then be in the geographic south and vice versa. So, not quite that important for today, but it might be something that could come up. And it may be part of the confusion.

Actually, most of the confusion I see on tests has to do with whether the even supervisor thinks that the north end of a compass is actually north, therefore a magnetic south pole at the north pole, or if the north end of a compass is north-seeking, therefor a magnetic north pole at the north pole... I prefer the latter, but I've actually seen it both ways on test :O

iwonder wrote:Actually, most of the confusion I see on tests has to do with whether the even supervisor thinks that the north end of a compass is actually north, therefore a magnetic south pole at the north pole, or if the north end of a compass is north-seeking, therefor a magnetic north pole at the north pole... I prefer the latter, but I've actually seen it both ways on test :O

The correct answer is this: The magnetic north pole is near the geghraphic north pole, and the magnetic south pole is near the geographic south pole.
Now wait. The "magnetic north pole" is just a name, quite a misnomer, in fact. If you were to compare earths magnetic field to a bar magnet, the north magnetic pole would be the south pole. As in, the north pole of a compass is actually a north pole, and it points to the "magnetic north pole", which is the south pole of Earth's magnetic field.

Source: http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/M ... poles.html

As stated above. the Earth's magnetic and geographic poles are close together (as are the South magnetic and geographic poles). The poles of a magnet (or compass) are called "North Seeking" and "South Seeking", or North and South poles for short. Thus the "North" pole of a magnet seeks (or points to) the Earth's North Magnetic Pole and the "South" pole of a magnet seeks (or points to) to the Earth's South Magnetic Pole. A magnet's North pole does not point to the Earth's South pole and a magnets South pole does not point to the earth's North pole.

What are some important more complicated topics to look at for Shock Value?
I know the basics such as Ohm's law, equivalent resistance, parallel vs series, magnetic fields, etc.

But I want to go further into some complicated stuff that I may not have looked at yet.