The masters of physics from Penn Manor were at it again last week.
Wednesday, April 21, 43 students from five area high schools attended the 18th annual Physics Olympics. This was Penn Manor’s first year, so they didn’t know exactly what to expect.
The students from the various schools were then split up into ten different teams so individual schools would not be competing against each other.
“The competition helped build teamwork with people we never met before,” said senior Jordan Franssen.
The competition consisted of five high-concentration events.
The events were:
Pinwheel of Fortune – Create a air powered cardboard pinwheel to lift the most mass in the least amount of time.
Jump – jump off a chair onto a force plate with the minimum force.
Bernoulli Relay – use a hair dryer to guide a ping pong ball along a path.
Weight of a metal block – use spring scales and knowledge of vectors to determine the weight of a suspended metal block.
Volume of an irregular object- determine the volume of an object using only a ruler.
“There’s a lot of dexterity involved,” said junior Lars Anderson.
From the teams that were part of the competition, only two Penn Manor students finished in the top three.
Jordan Franssen’s team took first place, and Ivan Puskovic’s team finished third.
Overall it was a good first experience for the Penn Manor students, who look forward to next year’s event.
By Paul Slaugh