If you want general information about the Victorian Young Physicists’ Tournament, click here.

Problems, Registration, Competition

Problems

This year there are two sets of topics this year. Teams will need to select either Set A or Set B.

The topics relate to Unit 2 content and are ideal topics for the Unit 2 Area of Study ‘Practical Investigation’.

Set A

1. Acceleration due to Gravity Determine the acceleration due to gravity, g, to as many significant figures as your school equipment allows. Note: This is not an exercise on accuracy, that is, how close you get to the accepted value of 9.8 m s-2, but rather, about choosing or comparing the various methods of determining ‘g’ and being precise in your measurements of the various quantities needed to calculate ‘g’.

2. Wet cleaning A wet rag is hard to drag when it is spread out and pulled across the floor. What does the resistive force depend on?

3. Paper Bridge It is more difficult to bend a paper sheet, if it is folded “accordion style” or rolled into a tube. Using a single A4 sheet and a small amount of glue, if required, construct a bridge spanning a gap of 280 mm. What factors affect the strength of your bridge? How would you measure the strength of the bridge?

Set B

1. Refractive Index of Glass Determine the refractive index of glass, ng, to as many significant figures as your school equipment allows. Note: This is not an exercise on accuracy, that is, how close you get to the accepted value, but rather, about choosing or comparing the various methods of determining ng and being precise in your measurements of the various quantities needed to calculate ng.

2. Tipcat Place a small wooden stick over the edge of a desk. Hit the end of the stick overhanging the table so that it flies away. How is the flight distance related to the relevant parameters? What is the condition for a max horiz distance?

3. Rubber band powered car A twisted or stretched rubber band stores energy and can be used to power a model car for example. Design such a car and consider questions such as How efficient is your car? How does the efficiency depend on properties of the rubber band? and how could your design be improved?

The team of three students do the three topics from one set.

Videos of the Tournament

At the 2014 Victorian Young Physicists’ Tournament, Terry Tan, then at John Monash Science School videoed the competition as did some of the other teachers. Terry edited the footage into two packages, i) a short one using extracts from different contests to show the key features of a contest and ii) a longer one of one complete contest. See links below.

A longer video of Victorian Young Physicists’ Tournament

The Vicphysics Committee appreciates the tremendous amount of work by Terry in chasing up school approvals and then editing the material into these packages.

Registration

Teachers do not need to officially register school teams until the Friday, 11th November. However no applications will be accepted after that date. Registration is free. Schools should download the registration form below, which has space for the following information:

  • School’s Name.
  • Teacher’s name and full contact details.
  • The name of each school team, their year level and the names of the students in each team, the Set of topics they have chosen to do as well as the topics each student will be reporting and and opposing.
  • Name of person to act as judge and their status *
  • The form should also requires the principal’s signature **

*: The teacher is expected to participate in judging. If a school wishes to register additional teams, then an extra judge is required by each additional two teams. The extra judge(s) can be either another science teacher, a lab tech, a student who has competed in VYPT before or a parent with a science background.

**: This is a large and complex event. It not only involves many people acting in a voluntary capacity, but it is also time consuming to organise. Consequently any withdrawal of a team is a major disruption. So there will be a penalty of $50 to the school for the withdrawal of a team to cover the additional administrative costs.

The form should be forwarded it to the Vicphysics either as an email attachment with subject heading, ‘Registration: VYPT’ or post it to Vicphysics PO Box 290, Flinders Lane Vic 8009.

VYPT Registration Form 32.3 kB

Powerpoints from previous tournaments can be found and downloaded from the ‘Results’ sections of 2011 tournament and the 2013 tournament.

Competition

The competition will be held on Tuesday 29th November for Year 10 teams and Wednesday 30th November for Year 11 and mixed teams. A round robin will be held during the morning and the early afternoon. Each team will compete in six 30 minute contests, three as a reporter and three as an opponent. Each team member will be required to report on one topic and oppose on another. So, each team member will have two opportunities to speak.

Judging Criteria

Judging criteria for 2017 59.9 kB

Assessment criteria to be used by the judges for VYPT contests in 2017. There is a separate criteria sheet for each of the roles of Report and Critique.

Venue: University High School, Story St, Parkville.

Prizes:

Members of the top teams receive a book and a cash prize. All other participants receive cash prizes and a certificate.