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nirama wrote:The rule book for Div B indicates that there are five moveable mirrors and one barrier with mirror. Am I correct in understanding that there will be total six mirrors including the barrier mirror on LSS? The kit I received from Ward Science includes total five mirrors. If one of them have to be used as a barrier mirror, then there will be only four moveable mirrors. Did Ward Science miss a mirror or did I interpret the rules incorrectly?

Yes, the Ward Sci only has 5 mirrors. We added the 6th barrier mirror this year and they already had a whole bunch of kits made up with the old rules. You can always just add a mirror to one of the barriers they provide.

This is probably my most difficult event so I was wondering what would be the best textbooks or websites to read. I do not know many equations either so any reading about how that works would be helpful as well (I could only get like half of the questions correct under the question marathon because I have no idea where to find any equations and equation-like things). In the rules does it say what equations are needed to know because I couldn't find anything, but I could just be looking over it. Also in the rules does it state if using more mirrors is better than using less mirrors during competition (because my partner and I can easily aim anywhere in our box with one or two mirrors, using more would be more difficult in my opinion)?
Thanks for the help

Mp3nguin__ wrote:This is probably my most difficult event so I was wondering what would be the best textbooks or websites to read. I do not know many equations either so any reading about how that works would be helpful as well (I could only get like half of the questions correct under the question marathon because I have no idea where to find any equations and equation-like things). In the rules does it say what equations are needed to know because I couldn't find anything, but I could just be looking over it. Also in the rules does it state if using more mirrors is better than using less mirrors during competition (because my partner and I can easily aim anywhere in our box with one or two mirrors, using more would be more difficult in my opinion)?
Thanks for the help

As with all events, the first thing you should do is read the rules very carefully. Your question about more vs. less mirrors is clearly answered in the scoring section. It also lists off the topics you should study. The second thing you should do is go to the official event page on soinc.org, where we provide links to websites and such that are good starting resources.

Since you're in B division, you don't need any fancy preparation. I occasionally use high school AP level notes simply because of their quality (e.g. pretty ray diagrams and mathematics or completeness), but you can get by simply searching most of the topics. For anyone in C division, I'd recommend whatever text the school or district uses for AP 2.

The laser shoot setup is much easier than the written test.

Mp3nguin__ wrote:I have no idea where to find any equations and equation-like things

In terms of physics events, hyperphysics and wikipedia are your best friends. Make sure you look at related links and articles for both. Besides those, as others have suggested, AP books are generally a good reference (I'd recommend Physics B or whatever CollegeBoard has turned that into nowadays). For slightly more competitive tournaments, such as the (now completed) MIT Invitational, and regs/state/nats, looking into more advanced college-level textbooks may be helpful (not just for SciO but general knowledge as well).

Just as a question (share your answers if you'd like), what type of scores are you all averaging on the laser shoot?

Avogadro wrote:Just as a question (share your answers if you'd like), what type of scores are you all averaging on the laser shoot?

I usually get within 1cm of the target with 4 mirrors, depending on the quality of the mirrors themselves

I can do all 5 + barrier accurately if I have a cooperative layout

Depends on the mirrors though, if they're not well made (not parallel or flush to the support) it's a lot harder; this trolled us at MIT and I got a 21 :/

On practice runs though I've gotten as high as 49.2

Is it possible for the barrier mirror to be placed on the sides?