Metric Mastery B

[caseyotis]

Well, we had states.
And did poorly. But not as poorly as I had thought.

We did have a pendulum station. We also had a station with a string that was in a snake-like pattern, which was hard to estimate (and measure)! I think that we had the potential to medal if we had practiced more. I didn't practice at all.

[-274degreesC]

We had our states as well. It wasn't too bad, but there was a station with ice water. I didn't think that this made sense because the ice water would warm up as it acclimated to the room. Thoughts?

[hc1220]

We had ice water as well. The proctors replaced the ice water quite frequently. In our states, we got first, even though we literally got like 25% of all points possible... Idk what happened

[caseyotis]

We had ice water as well. The proctors replaced the ice water quite frequently. In our states, we got first, even though we literally got like 25% of all points possible... Idk what happened

Everyone else failed. xD
We got a water station, but it was on a heat plate, and it was about 40 degrees Celsius... We guessed around 34, so we were close. .-. I don't know how we placed so poorly. We actually did pretty well. I think surface area/volume/density was our downfall. >.>

[hc1220]

O ok. The bad thing about metric mastery is that it's so unpredictable. What's weird is that at states they let us heft everything for estimation...

[caseyotis]

O ok. The bad thing about metric mastery is that it's so unpredictable. What's weird is that at states they let us heft everything for estimation...

Yeah, I know!
They let us heft a couple of things; for example, there was a foam brick that was very light but it was about 30cm x 6cm x 4cm or so. I'm probably off because length isn't one of my strong properties and my memory isn't that great! Anyways, it was hard to guess by looking at it, so they let us heft it. Same with this metal cylinder that was very dense and heavy.

[mrburrito]

Depending on the competition, the judges may let you touch the items. It's "by their courtesy" in the rules.

[hc1220]

Yeah, but letting us heft everything??? That seemed a little too nice

[mrburrito]

It does sound pretty good, but I never argue with a good thing.

[caseyotis]

It does sound pretty good, but I never argue with a good thing.

Well, it basically defeats the purpose of adding the rule that you don't have to let the participants touch/heft the objects. Besides, it gives the other teams the same advantage, especially if one team has been studying purely by not hefting the objects they use to test themselves (because they were expecting to not be allowed to do so at the competition).