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A team of five Patchogue-Medford High School students traveled to Farmingdale State College on Friday, March 19 to compete in the 26th Annual Long Island Physics Olympics. Sponsored by the Long Island Physics Teachers Association, the day consisted of many events designed to test the students’ skills and knowledge. After several hours of intense competition, the team of Michael Accardo, Kevin Honce, Devon Walker, Valerie Tomo and Jessica Gabriellini; supported by their teammates Olivia Cienski, Michael DeStefano, Jessica Sprague, Junior Mendez and Shaina Stolworthy; emerged with a 2nd place finish among 14 teams from Nassau and Suffolk. The day began with Fermi questions. The Calculations varied greatly in their proportion and scale. From molecules to stars, questions and solution stages ranged in size from powers of ten to the negative fifth (in length, two powers less than a millimeter) to massive amounts such as ten to the thirty-fifth (the mass of the Earth in Kilograms being only ten to the twenty-fourth)! This was their strongest event. They calculated the amount of cars that one could fit on the LIE bumper-to-bumper, the amount of water molecules the average faucet could emit in thirty seconds and the amount of text messages that the average student sends in a year’s time, all with dead-on accuracy! The second event was the Ballistic Bear in which they were to find the mass of a weighted stuffed animal using only their knowledge of physics and a few simple tools (a piece of string, two hand-sized carts and tape). The carefully calculated number in this case was approximately seven kilograms, and as it turned out, the masses of the differing objects were in a range of seven to eight kilograms. So close! Next up: Sensing the fundamentals. Can you see an object from a cross the room and know the length…in meters? Can you time an event based on your own internal clock? How about pick up something and feel exactly how many grams it is in mass? The team, as devout physics students, is expected to be able to conceive of the fundamental measures in physics using their very fallible senses alone, no tools, no timers, and certainly no scales! It did quite well through it all. Their timing of an event was off by a trivial period of mere seconds, and their estimation of a spring’s constant was certainly more-than-fair! It was an extremely FUNdamental event to say the least! And so, having wracked their brains with computation they settled down as a group to go head-to-head with some of the most competitive physics teams on Long Island! Time for the Physics Bowl! They started out with an early lead, grabbing points in the form of kinematics and lab-based questioning. And then a hiatus appeared in the form of a possibly life-threatening gas leak. Forty minutes later, they were back in play. Unfortunately, it seemed that the brief break, combined with the relaxing weather outside had slowed their reflexes, and they ended up missing out to be the first team to buzz in for most of the rest of the tournament. They lost by an infinitesimal margin of four points, placing second. Hey, you know what they say…second is the best. Finally, hit the mark. They worked under the pressure of the clock, a matter of minutes, and calculated the trajectory of a projectile headed off of a cliff of sorts. Each team only had one single shot, and it had to work out correctly. They began by discovering initial velocity, and went from there. In the end, they missed their target marker by only a few centimeters, but it was more than a fair try. Overall, the team did an excellent job. It really was a fantastic day for physics, a fun physics Friday one might say. Events like these encourage school spirit and celebrate academia. This year’s Physics Olympics was one of the best yet, and one could only hope that they continue to stimulate and challenge enthusiastic Patchogue-Medford students for years to come! |