Experimental Design B/C

[Vizard007]

Ok, thanks, also does anyone notice if there's a pattern as to what subject the experiment is on? Because, I know you guys said that it is usually Physics? Thanks

[zyzzyva980]

Normally physics, there may be some other types of experiments like chemistry, but the cheapest and safest experiments are physics, so that is what is normally used. Ramps ftw.

[tclme elmo]

Ramps, also levers.

[nejanimb]

For Supervisors, basic physics experiments are the easiest ones to provide. Potential energy based experiments are common especially.

Oftentimes though, it's not necessary to understand the science behind the experiment you're going to do, nor is it necessary to do the experiment that it is most obvious. At nationals a couple years ago, it certainly helped to know how the electrostatic force varied with distance, but we certainly could still have done the experiment without knowing the physics behind it. I think a good supervisor doesn't necessarily have a particular experiment in mind when they provide the test and materials, and then the competitors just have to get creative with how to go about doing something. Sometimes supervisors will also throw in traps to catch teams who don't really know how to do the event. My favorite example of this is an experiment about elasticity given 5 different rubber bands, a protractor, and a meter stick. An unpracticed team might choose to compare the 5 different rubber bands for their different levels, but an experienced team knows to pick one rubber band and vary some other property (distance traveled in a launch vs. extension, for instance).

[EpicFailure]

In the rules it says "Students may also bring a timepiece, a ruler and a non-programmable calculator." Does that mean that each person can bring a set of the materials above (so 3 sets in total) or a team can bring only 1 set?

[zyzzyva980]

We've always brought multiple and never been DQ'd, I'd say it's okay to bring multiple. It doesn't have that big of an effect on the competition.

[packercrosbyfan]

I believe the rules are designed to be vauge so that it is hard to prepare for this event. I think that this event is a better test than most of ability

[packer-backer91]

I believe the rules are designed to be vauge so that it is hard to prepare for this event. I think that this event is a better test than most of ability

That’s why I liked the rules so much, I did the event for 6 years in a row and nothing was majorly changed. One of the key things why the rules have so few parameters is to allow the event people to use anything and everything within reason as materials for you to conduct an experiment. This makes the event much more difficult, thus rewarding, having to prepare for so many different kinds of experiments [chemistry, physics, and practical solutions to a given problem]. I liked this event so much in my last few years I made a binder full of notes I had taken over the many years I competed, coming up with practices sheets, activities and other stuff for my teammates to do outside of the event. Unfortunately none of them actually did them, one thing I came up with was ask people for 5 random things and then a subject within chemistry or physics and I would come up with a brief explanation of what I would do if that was the given material for this event.

[zyzzyva980]

I wouldn't say the rules are vague, I'd just say they leave lots of possibilities open, and I like that. This isn't an event that you can learn through rote memorization. It's a think on your feet event. Sometimes, that's more important than just studying a specific area.

[scifipi]

How many trials would you recommend? I remember that one year we had three different kinds of ketchup , and the first was so thick it took all of our time but around eight minutes for it to run down (we were too idiotic to shorten the distance it would travel). We only got one trial for each ketchup in. Now, our team generally does about 3-5 trials. Is this good, or should we do more? How many trials do you have per independent variable?