FAQ & Rule Clarifications

2023

1.  Storm the Castle - The mass of the projectiles will be announced and provided tournament day.  It will be either 2, 2.5, or 3 kg.  The team will launch 3 times with one of those.  The weights do not change for the 3 launches.  The mass of the projectile, being a regulation racquetball, will be announced tournament day.  

2.  Graphs list in event rules - Students should be know the X & Y axis labels plus other labels, the basic shape of the graph, what increasing or decreasing along the graph means, and why a graph is used.

3.  Bottle Rockets - Team must bring two rockets to launch.  Rockets are NOT allowed to change shape (i.e. Parachutes are NOT allowed).  

4.  Egg Drop - 3D printed items are allowed this season.  Anything brought as part of the build is considered the "container."  Anything attached to the egg holder would be considered part of the container and must fit in a 25cm cube.  So a balloon attached to the egg crate must fit within the allowed 25cm.  The maximum allowed dimension for the entire drop is 25cm cubed.

5.  Wheeled Vehicle - Predicted time will be used as a tie breaker when necessary.

6.  Builds with safety violations will NOT be allowed to compete.  Builds with construction violations will be allowed to compete but will be tiered below those without construction violations.  

7.  For events with allowed resources, 1 binder per team.

2021

1. All events will be online tests or video submissions.  More event specific  information will be posted later.

2. A trial event does not count toward the overall team score.

3. Ideally, both members of the event team should have their own copy of the allowed resources for that event. 

4. Elementary students usually compete in 2 events.  Students may compete in more.  Middle & High School student usually compete in 3-4 events and rarely 5-6 events.

5. Individuals interested in competing without a school team, please contact info@medinascienceolympiad.com

6. Fast Facts - Topics will be limited to this year's ESO  events.  Helpful sites: https://www.sciencefun.org/kidszone/trivia/ and Quizlet

7.  Barge Building -  Cargo objects will be pennies. 

8.  Barge Building - No size requirement for the foil.  Only construction requirements are overall finished size and only foil is to be used (no tape, glue, or other). 

9. Gravity Vehicle - Target distance is 4 meters

2019

1. Robo-Cross - Bluetooth controlled is allowed.

2. "Printed material" - can be anything: copies, cutouts, handwritten items; not bound books - individual pages are allowed.

3. Bottle Rockets - Parachutes are allowed.

4. Impound - Both students do not need to be present when impounding a device.  

5. Impound - You may enter the device into Impound anytime during the 50 minutes.  Be polite and don't wait until the very end of the time period.

6. All 2018 FAQs & Rule Clarifications still apply.  In the case of EGG DROP (#9 &12), dimension changes from 20cm to 18cm.

2018

1. Maximum team size is 15-16 students.

2. Teams do not have to be from Medina County.

3. Aerodynamics - no tears or cuts in paper allowed.

4. Egg Drop - Sponge is allowed.

5. Egg Drop - Foam stretching is defined as foam packing material (examples: foam netting or mesh {like for fruit}, foam packing sheets {like for glassware}).  Craft foam will be allowed.

6. Binder Events (events allowing a binder) - Have an entry for each item on the official list including photos and the rule required info.  Look up using the scientific names when possible.  Divide the binder into sections matching the groupings on the list.  Color coding the sections can be helpful.  

7. Information Page Events (events allowing information sheets) - Have an entry for each item listed on the official rules.  If no official list is given, have an entry for everything listed in the rules.  This is to help jog the students' memory, not be everything to know.

8. Test Events not allowing binders or information sheets - Have the students make a study guide following the guidelines for Binder & Information Page Events.

9. Egg Drop - The device in its free-falling or landing state must adhere to the 20cm x 20cm x 20cm size.  We are not going to allow any part to be bigger/longer than 20cm even if it is folded small before dropping.

10. Storm the Castle - Floating arm trebuchets are allowed.  The rule "center of gravity cannot drop"  basically means that if you take the counter weight off the arm, it can not move up on its own thus imparting momentum to the object that you are throwing.  Think of being close to "neutrally" balanced.

11. Robo-Cross - The total voltage to power the robot must be 9.6 volts or less.  For example if the robot is powered by 6 AA (1.5 volt) batteries, the total voltage is 9 volts.

12. Egg Drop - Crates not meeting the 20cm x 20cm x 20cm size limit will be placed in Tier 2 due to the construction violation.  They will be ranked after all the Tier 1 entries (those without construction violations).  

13. Bottle Rocket, Storm the Castle, & Wheeled Vehicle - Eye Protection is Z87+ not Z287+.