AeroFair 2012: February 2012

AeroFair 2012

Hello and welcome to AeroFair 2012 blog. We at the School of Aerospace Engineering in USM are excited to organize another run of our outreach program to promote science and technology to the public, especially to the primary and secondary school students. Our program is formally named Program Penggalakan Sains dan Teknologi, or PPST but this year we are going to use AeroFair as a nickname for our program.

Please read more about our program in the related posts below. You can find out about where and when the fair will be conducted, the competitions that will be organized for the school students, and posts and photos on our previous PPST programs in 2008 and 2010.

Introduction to AeroFair 2012

Due to the success of the Science & Technology Enhancement Program – Aerospace Activities that were held in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, it is a great pleasure for the School of Aerospace Engineering, USM to conduct another similar program in 2012, together with Majlis Guru Cemerlang Pulau Pinang, and supported by the Penang State Government, Socio-Economic & Environment Research Institute (SERI), and Penang State Education Department. The Aim of this event is to promote Aerospace sciences and technology among secondary school pupils in the state of Penang.

Program Objectives:

To increase awareness on the importance of science and technology.
To arouse interest in Aerospace sciences
To involve pupils with Aerospace related activity such as aeromodelling, satellite technology, rocketry and astronomy
To provide an opportunity for pupils to interact with aerospace scientists and aerospace engineering university students.

General Information and Agenda

This event is expected to accommodate fifty (50) schools, with four (4) students and one (1) teacher representing each school. The total expected participants for the event is 250 people including teachers. The four competitions are opened to teams of four (4) form 4 and/or form 5 students. In addition to the competitions, there will also be static exhibitions which are open to all secondary school pupils in the state of Penang.

Agenda:

08:30 - 09:00 Assemble at Main Hall, Engineering Campus, USM
09:00 – 09:30 Opening Ceremony
09:30 – 10:00 Break
10:00 – 12:00 Competitions:

Cardboard Glider Airplane Competition
Parachute Design Competition
Wright Brothers Competition
Water Rocket Challenge

12:00 – 12:30 Lunch
12:30 – 13:30 Prize giving and closing ceremonies

Competition Guidelines

Participants Selection:

Four (4) form 4 and/or form 5 students from each school. Both the Parachute Design Competition and Water Rocket Challenge are limited to the participation of 20 schools each. Schools participating in the Parachute Design Competition are not allowed to participate in the Water Rocket Challenge and vice versa. However schools participating in one of the two above-mentioned competitions are free to participate in the Cardboard Glider Airplane Competition and/or in the Wright Brothers Competition. The maximum number of competitions that each school can participate in is three (3) competitions.

For detailed rules and regulations, please refer to the respective competition categories.

Reward:

Only the best three (3) teams from each competition category will be awarded prizes. All winners will be awarded special prizes and certificates of appreciation from the organizers. Certificates of participation will be given to all competition participants.

Request from the organizers (post-event essays):

Student groups and schools participating in AeroFair 2012, especially the finalists are encouraged to share their experience taking part in this event, competing in the competitions and even their preparations prior to the event in the form of written essays. These essays should be posted on our AeroFair 2012 blog (http://aerofair-usm.blogspot.com). Students can include photos of their projects, team members and photos on the competition day.

Water Rocket Challenge

This water rocket challenge aims to provide a platform for school students to design, build and test a water rocket model based on scientific principles such as rocket propulsion theory, aerodynamics, and Newton’s third law with the goal of educating school students on the actual science behind the creation of water rockets. Through this competition, school students are encouraged to conduct research on science and engineering during the design phase of their work.

Participants Selection:

This competition is open to teams of four (4) form 4 and/or form 5 students.
Participation is open to the first twenty (20) schools to register only. Registration should be done by email, together with details of team members and school and sent to aero@eng.usm.my by 9th April, 2012. Conformation of participation will be sent to successful schools within two (2) working days of receipt of email.
The water rocket models should be built in the teams’ respective schools prior to competition day. Only completed models will be launched and evaluated on the competition day.

Details of the Water Rocket Challenge:

Only one category shall be competed – Water rocket with parachute deployment system.
Each water rocket model must be equipped with a parachute. Rockets without a parachute deployment system will be disqualified. Parachutes must be installed on the upper component of the rockets.
The rocket should be designed in a way that will keep it airborne for a long amount of time. Time airborne will be noted.
Only 1.5 litter Coca-Cola / Sprite / F & N Carbonated Drink PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are to be used. Combustible chemical materials, pointed materials, metal, and other harmful materials that can cause injury and death are not allowed to be used.
All rockets will be launched at a launch pressure of 8 atmospheres (atm).
Each team is allowed to make one (1) launch only.
Setup of water rockets to the launcher will be done by the organizers only. Students are only allowed to launch their rockets with the permission of the organizers.
Launches will be made at a launch angle of 90°.
Each water rocket will be timed from the moment of launch right up to the moment it:

falls to the ground,
gets tangled up with another object like a tree or building or fence,
flies out of the judges’ sight,
is airborne for more than 15 minutes.

Judging criteria will be based on the longest time the water rocket is airborne. Entries will also be judged on the level of creativity, understanding and depth of research conducted during the design stage – to be submitted to the organizers in the form of a scientific report by email to aero@eng.usm.my by 13th April, 2012.

Wright Brothers Airplane Model Competition

In this competition, students must build the model of the famous Wright’s Brothers 1903 airplane (see the example image below).

Participants Selection:

This competition is open to groups of 4 students.

Details of the Wright Brothers Competition:

The model must be made before they come for the competition day at USM.
Entries not complying with the rules and regulations of the competition will be disqualified.
Judging criteria will be based on how accurate their model constructions are to the original Wright Brothers design, and the overall quality of the constructions of the models.
Judges decision is final.

Materials:

Toothpicks Matchsticks / ‘satay’-sticks
Glue / adhesive tapes / plasticine / thread
Manila card / foam / clay

Dimension:

The wingspan length must not exceed 1m.

Parachute Design Competition

Participants Selection:

This competition is open to groups of four (4) form 4 and/or form 5 students.
Participation is open to the first twenty (20) schools to register only. Registration should be done by email, together with details of group members and school and sent to aero@eng.usm.my by 9th April, 2012. Confirmation of participation will be sent to successful schools within two (2) working days of receipt of email.
The parachutes should be built by the groups on the competition day. Only completed models will be deployed and evaluated on the competition day.

Details of the Parachute Design Competition:

Materials provided by the organizers:

plastic table cloth
tissue papers
printing paper
newspaper
metal washer
strings
threads
glue
tape
scissors and blades

Sizes and weights of materials provided in (1) are determined by the organizers and only will be known by the participating groups on the competition day.
Each group will build a parachute using materials stated in (1) only and will be allowed to use any combination of the materials.
Metal washer acting as load will be hooked up to the completed parachutes with strings.
The loaded parachute will be released by participants standing on the first floor, approximately 12 feet above the ground floor. The judges will measure the time to fall with a stopwatch and the distance the load fell away from the intended target.

Cardboard Glider Airplane Competition

We propose to run a Cardboard Glider Airplane Competition as one of the activities for the secondary school students. The competition will consist of 3 stages:

The 1st stage will be the Design and Build Stage where the students will have to design a glider that can fly properly before they come to the competition day at USM. They may have to build more than one glider to improve their design and construction of the gliders. The students supply their own materials to build the gliders, which can be made from cheap and recycled materials. Schools that want to participate in this competition must email us at aero@eng.usm.my at least 3 days before the competition day. They can also send pictures of their gliders.
The 2nd stage will be the Flying Competition at USM where the students will fly their best gliders and compete with other groups. In this 1st round of the actual competition, student groups will compete their gliders to go to the 2nd round. The gliders can only be flown by hand-throwing them. Winners will be chosen based on the distance covered from the launching pad. As a guide, try to build gliders that can fly straight for at least 10 meters. 4 best groups will be selected to enter the 2nd, or final, round.
In the 3rd stage, which is also the 2nd round of competition, the 4 student groups must give presentations about their glider projects. In these presentations, which will be set in an informal setting, each group can tell the audience how they started their project, how they managed their group work, what problems they faced in the project, what they did to improve their gliders’ performance, and most importantly, what they learned in the process. They can also explain about the science of aerodynamics about the glider.

Judging Criteria of the Final Round:

10 judges of the presentation will be selected randomly from the audience to judge the presentation quality in the final round. They will be ask to rate the student presentation and their gliders from 1 to 10 (10 being the best marks). The student group with the highest marks will be chosen as the winner. To help improve their presentations, student groups are encouraged to make some extra presentation materials, such as cardboard drawings, gliders from their earlier designs, and other things.

Details of Glider Competition:

In this competition, each student group will design and build a glider using mainly cardboards, hard papers, styrofoams, etc. Recycled materials can be used. A glider is an aircraft with a wing but without any propellers. They can use other types of materials to help them in building the gliders: for example, glue, adhesive tapes, clay (to put extra weight on the plane), light wood (to make the aircraft body, which is called a fuselage), normal papers, etc.

There are not many rules in this glider competition. You can design the airplane however you want. As a guide, a glider typically consists of a fuselage, a wing, a vertical stabilizer, and a horizontal stabilizer. Sometimes, clay is placed at the glider nose to balance the glider when flying. Students are encourage to explore on their own the principles and construction of cardboard or paper gliders from the internet. These are some websites that might offer suggestions on how to build a cardboard glider: