November 12, 2009 THE RULES

1.

GREEN EGGS & CATCH

The goal of this event is to design and build the least massive device to safely catch an egg dropped from a height of 3 meters. Each group will be allotted two (2) drops of two different eggs into a device from a height of 3 meters. The device is to be made from the materials listed below. All devices must be made on site. The device must be freestanding and self-supporting, i.e., the device may not be taped to the floor. The device may not be taller than 50 cm as measured from the floor. No materials may be placed on the egg itself. A team member must retrieve the egg from the device and present it to a judge for inspection. Each team will have approximately 20 minutes to build their device. The team is responsible for setting up their device and dropping the egg in the allotted time. A drop is successful if the egg survives completely intact and with no cracks. Each team will be given Cotton balls (6) Paper - 8.5 x 11 (5) Balloons (1) Masking Tape (36) Popsicle Sticks (10) Rubber bands (2)

Scoring The least massive device that successfully catches an egg without any damage to the egg will receive a score of 300 points. The next successful device, 295, etc.

2.

THE FLOATING MARBLE CLIPPER SHIP

The goal of this event is to float the maximum number of marbles on a 20 cm x 15 cm piece of aluminum foil. Each team will be allowed two pieces of aluminum foil, one for a practice and the second for the competition, and two (2) large paper clips. The practice piece must be turned in to the judges before the official piece may be obtained. You do not have to use the second piece of foil, but one is available if the team chooses to use it. The final design must float with the marbles for ten seconds. When you wish to have your barge timed, just call for the judge. Once your device has been timed, you may not add more marbles. If your device sinks during the practice run or while being timed and there is still time left in the event, you may refloat the barge. If the barge sinks while being timed and there is time left, you may not add more marbles to the device, but you may remove some to refloat it. Scoring The team that floats the maximum number of marbles will receive a score of 200 points, second place 190 points, etc. In case of a tie, the teams involved will be called back for a second attempt, this time with an odd shaped piece of aluminum foil. The team that floats the maximum number of marbles receives 20 points, second place 19, etc.

3.

KING PONG

The goal of this event is to build a structure to hold the most ping pong balls. The structure must be free standing and self-supporting. The lowest ping pong ball on the structure has to be at least 1 inch off the ground. Each team will be given Pipe cleaners (10) Straws (10) NOTE: In order to score for this event, one person on the team must be able to carry the structure from point A to point B so the judges can count the ping pong balls. Scoring Teams will receive 10 points for each ping pong ball that is at least 1 inch off the ground. The winner will be awarded 25 additional points, the 2nd place team - (15) points and the 3rd place team - (10) points.

4.

THE TALLEST TIMED TOWER OF TENNIS

The goal of this event is to construct a tower to hold a tennis ball at its top. The tower must be a minimum height of 30 inches, free standing and self-supporting. The tennis ball must stay on top of the tower at all times. Each team will be given Paper 8.5 x 11 sheets (10) Fork (1) Paper clips (3) Masking tape (36) Styrofoam cup (1)

Scoring The team with the tallest tower will receive a score of 200 points, second place 190, etc.

5.

WINDMILL: BLADES OF POWER

The goal for this activity is to create a propeller for a windmill. The windmill will be powered by a fan placed in a fixed position. Teams will be able to place their windmill in any position behind a tape line to achieve the maximum voltage. Propellers will be created on a test pin and moved to a testing pin to meter their voltage output. Each team will be given: Foam Center Prop (1) Popsicle Sticks (6) Foam Plates (3) Masking Tape (18) Scoring Teams will be given 1 point for each mV generated.

6.

GRASSROOTS MATH STAMPEDE

This event is based on your ability to solve math problems. Each team will be given 20 problems to solve. You do not have to go in order, but complete as many as you can! A note about the Fermi Questions This event is based on the ability of Enrico Fermi to estimate the answers to problems that required very large or very small quantities. An example of a Fermi-style question is the following: How many ping-pong balls would be required to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool? Solution: You can line approximately 30 ping-pong balls along one meter. Therefore 30/m*30/m*30/m means you would have 27000/m3. An Olympic-size pool is 50m*30m*1m = 1500m3. The number of ping-pong balls in the pool would then be 27000/m3 * 1500m3 4 x 107 ping-pong balls. To Fermi, the coefficient in front was less important than the order of magnitude, or power of ten: 107. We will score these questions accordingly (see below). Each group will be given 20 challenges to solve: 10 Fermi Questions and 10 other mathematical puzzles. CALCULATORS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED FOR THIS ACTIVITY. Physics books will be available for reference. You will not be allowed to access the Internet. Each question is worth 5 points. On the Fermi questions, one point will be deducted from each answer for a power of ten above or below the accepted answers, and no points will be received if more than one power of ten outside the accepted answers. Scoring The highest score out of one hundred will be awarded 200 points in the STEM Competition, the next highest will receive 195 points, etc. Fermi Questions
1. How many words are there in the whole Physics book in front of you? 2. How many seconds are in a year?

3. When a personal computer is left in sleep mode but not turned off, it consumes on
average 27.9 Watts of power. Each kWh (1000 Watts * 1 hour) costs about 11. If there is an average of 1 computer per person in use in the U.S., and each person leaves their computer in sleep mode for 8 hours every night, how much money (in dollars) is wasted on power each day? 4. How many mens size-10 Nike shoes would it take, laid heel to toe, to make a line from Baltimore, Maryland to Baltimore, Ohio? 5. If it takes 6,280,000,000,000,000,000 electrons to flow in one second to produce one amp of current, how many electrons are needed to produce 4 amps of current in one second? 6. If a billion cells make up each cubic centimeter of your body, how many cells in total does an average persons body contain?

7. Each person in the U.S. generates approximately 2.3 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) each
year. A single mature tree can absorb CO2 at a rate of 48 lbs./year. How many trees are needed for the U.S. to go carbon neutral and absorb all the CO2 produced by its citizens? [U.S. population = 307,751,526 on 10/21/09, according to the Census Bureau.] 8. How many millimeters long is a football field?

9. You went away on a two-week vacation to Mexico forgetting a leaking faucet in your
bathroom. If your water leaked at five (5) drops per minute, and the water rate for your

city is 500 gallons / $15.00, how much would the extra water from the leaky faucet cost you in your next water bill? 10.The Guinness World Record holder (a math teacher) for chaining together paper clips takes an average of 1.6 seconds to chain one clip to another. How many can he chain together in 24 hours working at that rate?

Other Mathematical Puzzlers

11.If ten people are at a party and each person shakes hands with each other person, how many handshakes occur? 12.Add the numbers 1+2+3+4++2007+2008+2009. 13.Most Maryland License plates have six places for letters or numbers. Each of the six spots can be filled with any letter A through Z or any digit 0 through 9. How many different license plates can be made, given these rules?

14. Find the value of x, given

15.Order a. b. c. d. e. f. g.

1 + 1 + 1 +x =2

the following from smallest to largest: the number of people in the world the number of trees in the world the number of representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives the number of atoms in a mole the number of websites on the Internet the number of students at Patterson High School the number of planets in our solar system

16.Find and list all prime factors of 2009.

17. Find the next three numbers in the pattern: 0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, _____ , _____, _____ . 18. Find the next three numbers in the pattern: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, _____ , _____, _____ . 19. Find the next three numbers in the pattern: 1, 8, 27, 64, 125, _____ , _____, _____ . 20. Use each number from 4 to 12 exactly once, so that each column, row, and diagonal of
this magic square add up to 24: