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jacobxc wrote:So has it been clarified by the Science Olympiad people that ramps are legal. Because I can see how a proctor would not allow them. Since it states it is powered by a "falling mass" and when you think of a ramp you don't think of fall object.

Though I can't give you a official clarification, I can give you a strong argument to why a ramp would be legal. The car can be considered the falling mass. There is no rule saying your falling mass can't be your car. Though the weight of your car would have to be less than 2kg, since the entire vehicle is considered part of the falling mass. Ramps in the past have been legal for scrambler and I see no reason why to prohibit ramps this year. Understand that this is merely my opinion and in my opinion a good argument.

I understand that this isn't a place for official clarifications but i was wondering what your opinions are on our scrambler. We will be using a ramp (which does not have to be solely constructed out of wood, correct?) and a mass that is pretty.. well.. unusual. As in, it is a bag of pennies strapped to the car with rubber bands (since we have a competition soon and cannot get our hands on a real mass.). Would this system of mass be legal as long as the total mass of the car (with pennies) is less than 2 kg in your opinions?

thsom wrote:I understand that this isn't a place for official clarifications but i was wondering what your opinions are on our scrambler. We will be using a ramp (which does not have to be solely constructed out of wood, correct?) and a mass that is pretty.. well.. unusual. As in, it is a bag of pennies strapped to the car with rubber bands (since we have a competition soon and cannot get our hands on a real mass.). Would this system of mass be legal as long as the total mass of the car (with pennies) is less than 2 kg in your opinions?

Yes, this would be legal since the "falling mass" would be your car, which would include the pack of pennies.

iwonder wrote:I submitted a clarification the day of the cyfalls contest but haven't heard back yet.

I also submitted one the day of cyfalls, and trying to get my partner to send one too. Jdogg, I also agree and can find nothing against it. But I don't really think ramps were in thought when they decided the source of energy. I feel it was more around a design of a free falling weight which is what I am using for the fact no one can say my design is out of specs, but again this an opinion.

Thanks! Also, I was wondering, what would be considered a "competitive score" as in something like top 5 at states?

thsom wrote:Thanks! Also, I was wondering, what would be considered a "competitive score" as in something like top 5 at states?

I was 8cm off and had a time around 5.2s and got a score around 34 at my first comptition, but I was in tier 2 so I got 5th. So I don't know how that score against others, but I assume it would be top three and there was 8 of the top 10 teams in Texas were at that invitational.

No one can really be sure yet, since it's a new event and there's not really a basis for comparison (I'm not sure if it's been done before?).

IF you use the hammer system, would the rod holding the weight count towards the 2 kgs?

lmatkovic3 wrote:http://scioly.org/wiki/index.php/Scrambler#Past_Results

Well there ya go...


Yes, since the rod is falling with the mass, and it's energy is contributing to the vehicles momentum, it would count towards the 2kg.