Thermodynamics

Q: Is perlite a permissible material as insulation? (Section: 3; Pargraph: a; Line: 2)

A: No, perlite is a foam and is not allowed.

Q: Is styrofoam considered to be a type of foam? (Section: 3; Pargraph: a; Line: 2)

A: Yes, styrofoam is a foam and not allowed in the devices.

Q: Whose thermometer is used for the final temp since the supervisor must supply thermometers/probes and paragraph 4a iv says teams may utilize their own thermometers to measure the starting water temp in their beakers? (Section: 2; Paragraph: b; Line 2)

A: Supervisors provide the thermometer for final temp measurement. 

Q: Can teams be penalized for submitting a graph containing more than four data plots? (Section: 2; Paragraph: b; Line 1)

A: No.

Q: Are we allowed to have in our binder more than the required up to 4 graphs that will be handed in? (Section: 2; Paragraph: c; Line 15)

A: Yes

Q: Are calculators (programmable in particular) to be impounded? (Section: 2; Paragraph: d; Line 1)

A: Yes

Q: Is impound only for Part 1 of the event (device, tools, notes, plots, etc), or is the binder for Part 2 also to be impounded? (Section: 2; Paragraph: d; Line 1)

A: Rule 2.d. explicitly states that notes must be impounded. This includes note for both Part 1 and Part 2.

Q: Can duct tape be used? (Section: 3; Paragraph: a; Line 1)

A: Yes

Q: Can my team use duct tape completely around the outer edge of the lid to secure it?  (Section: 3; Paragraph: a; Line 2)

A: Yes, General rule #2 applies: http://soinc.org/ethics_rules 

Q: Should the students be allowed to place a separate "plug" or "cap" into or on the opening of the internal 250 mL beaker before closing the device? ( (Section: 3; Paragraph: b; Line 1)

A: Yes, teams may put a "plug" or "cap" on the opening of the internal beaker. Anything put in or around the beaker cannot physically modify the beaker nor the water in the beaker. The required hole for the probe must be at least 1.5 cm in diameter in any plug or cap. The device does not need to be all one physically attached unit.

Q: How late is the team allowed to insert a thermometer to measure starting temperature after the inside beaker was placed in the container?   (Section: 4; Paragraph: a; Line 5)

A: This will be up to individual event supervisors, but it should happen as soon as possible so as to not violate the overall spirit of the problem.

Q: Are event supervisors supposed to supply the ice-water, or do students need to bring in their own?   (Section: 2; Paragraph: b; Line 1)

A:  Yes, Event Supervisors provide the ice-water.

Thermodynamics

Q: You've previously clarified that commercial insulation is anything sold/bought that has heat retention as one of the intended properties. Does this mean if the product packaging lists the features of the product, but doesn't mention heat retention that it can be used?

A: Commercial insulation definition: A previous FAQ states: “Commercial insulation is anything sold / bought that has heat retention as one of the intended properties”. To clarify further, the fundamental principle is that competitors need to use 'raw materials' to create their devices, not depend on the work some professional engineer put into designing something to insulate.

Items that would be considered ‘commercial insulation’ aren’t always necessarily labeled as such, since there are a lot of products engineered to be significantly better insulators than a normal person would be able to trivially create using the same raw materials. Likewise, just because someone has measured the ‘R Value’ of something and published it, doesn’t mean it’s inherently commercial insulation.

As with many things in Science Olympiad, there is a certain amount of subjectiveness that will fall upon the event supervisor in determining whether or not something is commercial insulation and it is impossible for us to list all possibilities. One key factor supervisors will use in determining this is how much effort the competitor put into modifying the 'raw material' to make the device. When in doubt, competitors should always err on the side of caution and select basic raw materials such as some of those listed below.

Some examples of materials that AREN’T considered commercial insulation:

• Uncoated glass sheets
• Cotton balls
• Wine bottle corks
• Raw wool
• Fiberglass sheets (e.g. the thin paper like material used to repair car body panels)
• Aluminum foil

 Some examples of materials that ARE considered commercial insulation:

• Silverized glass sheets
• Cotton batting
• Cork paneling
• A wool sweater
• Glass wool (e.g. fiberglass insulation, the pink fluffy stuff)

Water Quality

Q: For Water Quality, will Wetlands, Groundwater, and other not specified sections be included with the testing? (section: 3 / paragraph: a / sub-paragraph:  / line: 1)

A: Those topics fit within the rules and could possibly appear on a test.

Water Quality

NOTE: Student teams will need to bring their own container to test their hydrometer/salinometer device.

Water Quality

NOTE: Each team will be limited to 250 mL of saline solution for testing their salinometer/hydrometer.