Isaac E. Young Students in Top 10 at Regional Science Olympiad

On Saturday, March 2nd, the Isaac E. Young (IEY) students competed in the lower Hudson Valley Regional Science Olympiad Competition.  The successful IEY team scored in the top 10 out of 32 teams in three events.  The all-day competition was held at Scarsdale Middle School.  Competitors included Hackley, Pelham, Fox Lane, Irvington, Somers and others.  Events included Anatomy, Shock Value, Meteorology, Mystery Architecture, Boomilever, Rotor Egg Drop and more.  The IEY team, under the direction of science teachers Ms. McCue, Ms. Gianserra and Mr. Fullerton, was very well-prepared and performed very well.  They have been preparing since September after school. 

Boomilever

In the Boomilever event, the coach prepared his team by watching numerous videos of cantilevered trusses deflecting and failing under different loads.  They built multiple prototypes of Boomilevers, using different materials, designs and glues.  They brought their best design to the competition.  In this event the Boomilever is weighted with sand until it breaks. 

On Saturday, the IEY team went first.  Under the watchful eyes of the judges, the IEY team attached their Boomilever to the testing wall with three bolts; then they attached a hook and from it hung a sheetrock bucket.  They filled the bucket with cupfuls after cupful of sand until all the sand was gone.  Their Boomilever did not break.  Team after team followed the IEY team.  Every other Boomilever failed.  Other competitors and coaches came over to the IEY team to review their design and ask for tips.  The winning team is judged on efficiency, meaning the load of the sand divided by the mass of the Boomilever.  

Other Events

On several events students take tests on different topics.   IEY students prepared for the Anatomy event, which is sponsored by the Society for Neuroscience.  Students had to study the nervous system, digestive system, major disorders and the treatment and prevention of disorders.  In the Water Quality event, students had to build and calibrate a salinometer (hydrometer) prior to the competition and use it to test salt water.  Other parts of the event included data interpretation and procedural analysis.  For the Meteorology event, sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), students were tested on reading hurricane wind charts, life cycles of thunderstorms and tornado weather maps among other weather topics.

Rotor Egg Drop

In the Rotor Egg Drop competition, two person teams construct a helicopter rotor device prior to the competition.  The helicopter device must have a rotor, not be a parachute, and carry a raw egg in a sandwich bag as it descends from a balcony.  At the Scarsdale Middle School the teams, their leaders and the judges assembled in the Great Hall.  The judges dropped each device from the balcony and timed their descent.  Then when the egg landed another judge checked whether the egg survived.  The winning design took the longest time to descend and kept the egg intact.

Congratulations IEY Science Olympiad team and their coaches!