Scioly.org

Has anyone found a motor/propellor type that really works well for this event?

I know there was some discussion of this earlier in the thread, and I'm assuming I'll have to send in a national clarification, but how do you think the rule will be addressed in the following NY rule clarification be addressed at Nationals?


Magnetic Levitation - C Division (1/5/12): Questions continue to be raised about rule 3.l. The National Physics Committee is currently discussing a rewording of that rule to make the intention more clear, but they have not yet made a decision on the new wording. The intent of the rule is to insure that the vehicle designed by the students is magnetically levitated and not supported by either wheels that touch the bottom of the track or devices (horizontal wheels or other devices) that support the vehicle by the tension they maintain with the sides of the track. To clarify the rules intent, all New York State competitions (Invitationals, Regionals, and the State Tournament) will use the following determination:

The student-designed vehicle must be 100% magnetically levitated. To demonstrate that this is true, the students will place their vehicle in the ready-to-run position, then push the vehicle down until it makes contact with the bottom of the track. When the student lets go of the vehicle, it will pop back up to its original position if it is magnetically levitated. Any vehicle that passes this test will have met the requirements of rule 3.l.

pjgscioisamazing wrote:
The student-designed vehicle must be 100% magnetically levitated. To demonstrate that this is true, the students will place their vehicle in the ready-to-run position, then push the vehicle down until it makes contact with the bottom of the track. When the student lets go of the vehicle, it will pop back up to its original position if it is magnetically levitated. Any vehicle that passes this test will have met the requirements of rule 3.l.

Seeing as how one of the committee members that helps draft that language will be running the event at Nationals, I think you can safely assume he'll run the event in that spirit.

chalker wrote:

pjgscioisamazing wrote:
The student-designed vehicle must be 100% magnetically levitated. To demonstrate that this is true, the students will place their vehicle in the ready-to-run position, then push the vehicle down until it makes contact with the bottom of the track. When the student lets go of the vehicle, it will pop back up to its original position if it is magnetically levitated. Any vehicle that passes this test will have met the requirements of rule 3.l.

Seeing as how one of the committee members that helps draft that language will be running the event at Nationals, I think you can safely assume he'll run the event in that spirit.

So the "push-down test" as we call it, will stand? I say this because, as with many other cars, parts of our car do touch the sides, but if pushed down, will come right back up.

I know this isn't a place for official rule clarifications, but would motors that have rare earth magnets be allowed? Most motors that are made have rare earth magnets in them, so it wouldn't make sense to disqualify a team based on the magnets inside of a motor. The way I interpreted the rules and the way the rules were thought to be interpreted was that no rare earth magnets were supposed to be used to levitate the car. Our team at states got DQ because of this. It is really hard to find motors today that don't use rare earth magnets, since most of the motors made today are made to be as optimum as possibly. I just want to hear what other teams think about my interpretation and whether they think this should or shouldn't be allowed.

Any ideas for what motors to use?

Jdogg wrote:I know this isn't a place for official rule clarifications, but would motors that have rare earth magnets be allowed? Most motors that are made have rare earth magnets in them, so it wouldn't make sense to disqualify a team based on the magnets inside of a motor. The way I interpreted the rules and the way the rules were thought to be interpreted was that no rare earth magnets were supposed to be used to levitate the car. Our team at states got DQ because of this. It is really hard to find motors today that don't use rare earth magnets, since most of the motors made today are made to be as optimum as possibly. I just want to hear what other teams think about my interpretation and whether they think this should or shouldn't be allowed.

Yeah, we had the same problem here. Good thing it is just a trial this year as there are a few things that need to be straightened out by next year (hopefully).

Well that would make sense, since we go to the same school , but I completely agree. Some of the rules should either be changed or made more clear. Looking at different types of motors, it is almost impossible to find one that has good efficiency and is not made with some type of rare earth magnet. And Mr. G if your looking at this post I'm a about to continue working on robot stuff

JTMess wrote:Haha sorry for asking without looking, I just found the times online. If anyone else is interested, here they are:
http://www.newyorkscioly.org/SOPages/cstate2012.html

Do you know what mass they used for the sled?

Another thing, it says you can only use "commercial batteries"?

What does that include? Does that mean I have to use a 9V from like a grocery store or can I use my rechargeable 7.4V Lithium Polymer battery? It makes a pretty big difference as far as thrust goes.

One last thing...how big/high are the sleds? Our fan isn't too high and we don't want the thrust to be blocked by some tall sled...