FW: NZ in IYPT Final

[Kerry Parker]

Forwarded from Paul Haines, Chair of IYPT New Zealand.
Dear All

The New Zealand team of Jennifer Randle, Tony Luen, Evan Simmers, Yufei Chen and David Xie have just qualified for the Final of the Physics World Cup (also known as the International Young Physicists' Tournament) being held in Vienna. In the final the team will compete against teams from Singapore, Austria and Korea. This is now the 4th year in a row that New Zealand has reached the final, something that no other country has achieved in recent years.

In the last of the qualifying Physics Fights Evan Simmers presented the "Electromagnetic Cannon" scoring 7.1 against opposition from Bulgaria.
Jennifer Randle opposed the problem "Liquid Light Guide" presented by Iran scoring 7.6.
Jennifer Randle then reviewed the problem "Sand" reported by Croatia scoring 8.3.

Cheers
Paul
Electromagnetic cannon
A solenoid can be used to fire a small ball. A capacitor is used to energize the solenoid coil.  Build  a  device  with  a  capacitor  charged  to  a  maximum  50V.  Investigate  the relevant parameters and maximize the speed of the ball.

Liquid light guide

A transparent vessel  is filled with a  liquid (e.g. water). A jet flows out of the vessel. A light source is placed so that a horizontal beam enters the liquid jet. Under what conditions does the jet operate like a light guide?
Sand
Dry  sand  is  rather ʹsoftʹ  to walk  on when  compared  to  damp  sand. However  sand containing  a  significant  amount  of  water  becomes  soft  again.  Investigate  the parameters that affect the softness of sand.

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