Technical Problem Solving C

[bernard]

just got put into the event... am i the only one who is thoroughly confused by the vague vague rules?

No. I'll send you a private message.

[Celestite]

I'm pretty confused on what exactly TPS is about too. They say that it deals with physical evidence, so I assume that means physics. The topics they mention though - Beer's Law and Newton's Law of Cooling - are chemistry. I was wondering two things:
1. For physics, how likely is it that they have E&M topics on the test? I'm assuming that there are Mechanics topics - momentum, kinematics, rotation, but I haven't taken E&M yet at school.
2. Would there be other chemistry topics other than Beer's Law and Newton's Law of Cooling? I'm still taking Chem at school right now, so it'd be very hard to study for more than a few chemistry topics within a couple of weeks.

[blindmewithscience]

1. For physics, how likely is it that they have E&M topics on the test? I'm assuming that there are Mechanics topics - momentum, kinematics, rotation, but I haven't taken E&M yet at school.
2. Would there be other chemistry topics other than Beer's Law and Newton's Law of Cooling? I'm still taking Chem at school right now, so it'd be very hard to study for more than a few chemistry topics within a couple of weeks.

As always, not the place for official interpretation of rules, but here's what I think about your 2 questions.
1. There almost certainty will not be E&M in TPS this year. You will use data collected from a motion sensor, force meter, temperature probe, and colorimeter, none of which relate too much to E&M.
2. Well, there's some things that could be covered in either Chem or Physics, like the 2 you mentioned. Motion/Forces are pure physics, so nothing Chem-wise there. With temperature, I'd know about Q=mc deltaT (could be considered chem), maybe freezing point depression, PV=nRT (debatable whether Chem or physics), and I'm probably forgetting some other stuff.

[Celestite]

1. For physics, how likely is it that they have E&M topics on the test? I'm assuming that there are Mechanics topics - momentum, kinematics, rotation, but I haven't taken E&M yet at school.
2. Would there be other chemistry topics other than Beer's Law and Newton's Law of Cooling? I'm still taking Chem at school right now, so it'd be very hard to study for more than a few chemistry topics within a couple of weeks.

As always, not the place for official interpretation of rules, but here's what I think about your 2 questions.
1. There almost certainty will not be E&M in TPS this year. You will use data collected from a motion sensor, force meter, temperature probe, and colorimeter, none of which relate too much to E&M.
2. Well, there's some things that could be covered in either Chem or Physics, like the 2 you mentioned. Motion/Forces are pure physics, so nothing Chem-wise there. With temperature, I'd know about Q=mc deltaT (could be considered chem), maybe freezing point depression, PV=nRT (debatable whether Chem or physics), and I'm probably forgetting some other stuff.

Thanks! That's really helpful

[nxtscholar]

In a sweeping generalization, I think of gas laws and Newton's law of cooling as falling under the thermodynamics branch. As for beer's law, the only application I can think of is fabrics and fibers.

So quick question: if our method of finding the answer is different from the answer key's, but we still get the right answer, how would that be scored? I assume our work gets scored too?

The other followup question is with regards to the level of expertise they expect us to know. Take ballistics. Do we consider drag in instances where they don't mention air resistance is negligible? And let's say we do and get an answer different than that of the answer key. Then what?

[boomvroomshroom]

Hey guys so this is my first year doing TPS~

So I was wondering what will usually be the depth of the questions? Will we be able to solve them just by plug it into the formula, or it involves some deeper thoughts? Also, will the lab stations works like the ones in chem lab which one person will be able to complete the questions while the other person do the lab?

I did TPS last year. Admittedly, the rules were pretty different (the event focused on electrochemistry and thermochemistry). The questions are typically fairly in-depth and require some understanding of what was happening in the experiments being done. As for the division of labor, expect that you will master one part of the event and your partner will master the other. For example, I did electrochemistry and my partner did thermochemistry. The event (as I know it) was set up to involve questions that could only be answered by completing the experiment, and having two people do one experiment is simply poor time management.

For an event like TPS, they can literally ask you anything...depends on luck of the draw. If the test writer is someone who knows their stuff, they'll probably write a really good, in-depth test. Or, you could be unlucky and get someone who literally just copies and pastes stuff from various sources. Do expect to be pressed for time in anything.

[Abby_Willgruber]

From what I'm understanding for the rules, we must have somewhat of a forensics background? Anybody know how to actually study for this event?

[boomvroomshroom]

From what I'm understanding for the rules, we must have somewhat of a forensics background? Anybody know how to actually study for this event?

Not necessarily. It might help, but TBH the Forensics event is almost completely different from TPS. TPS goes into a lot more detail; Forensics is a lot about quick lab work and superficial ID. Having done the forensics event in the past might give you a starter, but you'd still have to re-study a lot.

[scioly_07]

I will post a test in the next few days, but are there any other tests other than the one listed here?http://scioly.org/wiki/index.php/2015_T ... em_Solving

[nxtscholar]

Lol, our states test for TPS had nothing of the forensic sort one might expect. My partner and I spent weeks studying bullet trajectory, blood splatter, thermodynamics, etc.

Well, we had only lab to do at states...and it dealt with just analyzing momentum and impulse... -___- The scenario was a car collided into a wall at the end of an incline. Based on given information about the driving tendencies of suspects (i.e. how fast they drive), determine which suspect was the scene of the crime.

Ok...so not really that bad (other than the fact we wasted time studying topics that didn't matter in the end), but did I mention two schools per lab station? Which means we had to share probes??? smh.