Events

In addition to the following FAQs, be sure to check the National Science Olympiad Event Clarifications and FAQs for additional information.

Airjectory (Division B - Trial Event)
Disease Detectives (Division B and C)
Road Scholar (Division B)
Wind Power (Division B and C - Trial Event)

View Event Tips

Airjectory (Division B - Trial Event)

Q: Does the Schraeder valve and associated tubing have to be within the 1m x 1m x 1m cube or can the tubing with valve and pressure gauge extend to the safety box?

A: After the device is measured, the tube can be unrolled and brought to the safety box.

Q: The rules for airjectory state that the competitors may retrieve the rocket as soon as the scoring marker is placed. But does the team need to stay in the safety box as the judges are placing the scoring marker?

A: Teams do not need to be in the safety box while the scoring marker is being placed. As long as a rocket is not pressurized or being pressurized, teams can be outside of the safety boxes.

Q: Is the target distance the same for all competitors?

A: The target distance is picked at random in the morning and remains the same for all competitors throughout the day.

Q: Regarding Rule 2a. "Each team may bring 1 or 2 rockets and a launcher of their own design...." We have a basic launcher from Egg O Naught that we want to modify for Airjectory. Must we build an entirely new launcher from scratch? We will of course just copy the one we already have, but it would be a waste of the money the team already spent on the launcher we just bought for the Regional and State Tournament.

A: Feel free to modify your Egg O Naught launcher.

Q: Can you bring a log sheet and can you use a device to find the distance to the target, like a laser sight or a scope?

A: Log sheets are permitted. Sights are not banned in the rules as written, so they should be allowed to keep things fair.

Q: For Disease Detectives, what are the topics regarding the environmental causes of public health problems?

A: The environmental causes of public health problem topics for the 2008 Division B and C Disease Detectives at the National Competition will focus on the Effects of Extreme Weather and the Acute Health Effects of Air Pollution.

Q: At regionals and states, event coordinators would inform us ahead of time what state maps we would need to bring to the road scholar event. Do we need to supply our own maps for the national tournament? If so, of which states?

A: All maps will be provided for Road Scholar. Teams do not need to bring any maps with them. Road maps are being provided by AAA

Q: Regarding the section titled "The Competition"..."but are limited to the materials provided and the space on the forward side of the CD". Does this mean the blades cannot extend past the (approx.) 4 1/2: diameter of a CD?

A: The propellers cannot be placed on the "B" side of the CD - they can extend past the diameter as long as they are placed on the "A" side.

Q: Are we to assume that the fan will be basically centered on the propeller, that is, the same amount of wind will hit the propeller on either side of the axis of rotation? (the (majority of) the wind will not blow on one side of the shaft only).

A: I believe you are safe to assume that!