Scioly.org

Discussion for the Wedge task.

Hi, I'm new to science olympiad, but I had a question about task 3b, do the two objects HAVE to be two different objects, or could it do something else, like cut a string, for instance?

Lieficheep wrote:Hi, I'm new to science olympiad, but I had a question about task 3b, do the two objects HAVE to be two different objects, or could it do something else, like cut a string, for instance?

The rules clearly state that you must push the wedge between two objects. I'd take that to mean two distinct objects. They could be identical (a pair of wooden blocks, or something), but a string would definitely only count as one object.

Hmm... this task might be a bit harder than I thought... thanks
I was going to use it to cut a string at the end to allow the balloon to rise

Lieficheep wrote:Hmm... this task might be a bit harder than I thought... thanks
I was going to use it to cut a string at the end to allow the balloon to rise

I'd personally skip it entirely--since you can only do eight tasks, why bother with the twenty point ones, especially if they give you trouble?

Primate wrote:

Lieficheep wrote:Hmm... this task might be a bit harder than I thought... thanks
I was going to use it to cut a string at the end to allow the balloon to rise

I'd personally skip it entirely--since you can only do eight tasks, why bother with the twenty point ones, especially if they give you trouble?

I guess I need to read the rules more thoroughly... this means I can skip 4 extra tasks.... 20 points, out

If I have a marble on top of two pieces of wood that are touching each other, and I use a wedge to move one of the pieces of wood to the side allowing the marble to fall, would that count as separating the two objects?

questionguy wrote:If I have a marble on top of two pieces of wood that are touching each other, and I use a wedge to move one of the pieces of wood to the side allowing the marble to fall, would that count as separating the two objects?

That would count to my understanding as long as both pieces of wood are distinctly being moved so the wedge is seperating two objects.

"To the side"? Sounds like something to see before deciding. I don't insist that both pieces move, but taht wedge had better be between them.

Okay, so BOTH pieces would physically have to move? The rules say that we just need to separate the objects. Both don't have to move right?