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High School Physics Day 2008 was a momentous time in Millikin history but it will pale in comparison to Spring
2009 when the second annual high school physics day is held.
This competition will bring together some of the
finest high schools in Central Illinois to do battle
on the physic's arena's of skill and knowledge. Each
high school physics class will have to work together
to build both simple and complex machines in order to
complete various tasks as outlined by the official
rules. Winning classes will receive prizes that
include $1,000 and $500 Millikin University
Scholarships for each member of the 1st and
2nd place teams who choose to enroll as a full-time
student at MU. To keep the action moving current
Millikin students will be showcasing several
interesting physics demos for students to observe in
between events. Also, just to up the ante, Millikin
will be sending in its finest to compete amongst the
high school classes (No worries though, we won't
steal your well earned prizes)!
To access our forum, click here.
To get the full scores for 2008, click here.
To see pictures from 2008, click here.
Events
These are the events for 2008, 2009 Events will be posted at a Later Time
Purpose: To design a simple machine that launches a tennis ball into a tub half-filled with sand or gravel (to prevent the tub from sliding and the ball from bouncing out) from a distance (to be specified at the competition) following these specifications:
Specifications:
- Must use a standard size tennis racket to launch a standard size tennis ball.
- No explosives may be used.
- The tub, which will be provided, is 0.42m high and has a circular opening with a diameter of 0.49m.
- The tub will be placed with its center between 5 and 15 meters away from the launch point. The exact distance will be announced at the competition, and your device should be adjustable to reach any distance within that range.
- The ball must enter the tub on a fly; balls that enter after bouncing will not count.
- Device must not rely on human power; i.e., no people hitting a ball with a racket.
Materials Provided: Water Tub
Materials Not Provided: Tennis Racket, Tennis Ball, any other material
Goal: Be able to launch the ball into the tub the most times. For the first 5 trials, teams will be given the distance to the tub. Any ties that result will be broken by the number of tries needed to get the ball into a tub at an unspecified distance.
- Whirlybird Lemon Launcher
Purpose: To design an inanimate device that launches a lemon as far as possible using rotational motion with the following specifications.
Specifications:
- The device has to use rotational motion to fling the lemon and must rotate more than 360 degrees before launch.
- No explosives may be used.
- Total dimensions of device in any position must not exceed that of a one meter cube.
- Device must be capable of reproducible results to within 10% accuracy.
- Device cannot be motor-driven.
- Device must not rely on human power; i.e., no people throwing lemons.
- Device must have a mass less than 20kg.
Materials Provided: Lemons
Material Not Provided: Anything else
Goal: Launch your lemon the farthest while following the specifications. Points will be awarded both for greatest distance and for least spread in distance over 5 throws.
Purpose: To design a miniature house that has working electrical utilities with the following specifications.
Specifications:
- House must have at least two stories.
- Each story must have at least two rooms.
- Must include at least one simple, one parallel, and one complex (combination) circuit.
- Circuits must have switches to turn each individual light on and off.
- The complex circuit must include a door bell.
- Must use 9 volt batteries for power (no limit to the number of batteries).
- Total size of project must be no greater than a 0.5 meter cube (i.e. must be able to fit within a box of those dimensions).
- All circuit elements must be clearly labeled (i.e. light switches, door bell ringer, etc.)
Materials Provided: None
Materials Not Provide: Anything else
To win: Houses will be judged equally on design (how they appear, décor, livable conditions), meeting specifications, and extra elements in your circuits (be creative).
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