Sci Oly Tower Rules

What are the basic requirements for the Tower structure?

- Made of wood bonded by adhesive

- Spans 20 cm square opening

- Supports loading block 50+ cm above test base

- Only 3 points of contact with the test base

What materials are allowed for construction?

- Only wood and adhesive

- No other materials permitted

What are the key structural design requirements? (Rule 3.b)

- 3 points of contact with test base

- Loading chain suspended within 2.5 cm of opening center

- Minimum 50 cm height

- Designed for 29 cm bonus circle

What are the Loading Assembly specifications? (Rule 5.b)

Loading Block: 5 cm x 5 cm x 2 cm high

- Eyebolt for suspension

- Chain and S-hook for attaching to structure

What are the Test Base specifications? (Rule 5.a)

- Solid, level surface

- At least 55 cm x 32 cm

- Divided into 4 quadrants

- 29 cm bonus circle centered on opening

What are the key competition procedures? (Rule 4)

- Structure inspection & measurement

- Mass determined to 0.01 g

- Height measured to 0.1 cm

- 6 minutes for setup and testing

What are the Event Parameters? (Rule 2)

- One Structure per team, built prior to competition

- Eye protection required at all times

- No commercial levels or squares allowed

- All Apparatus must meet requirements in Section 5

Define "wood" as per competition rules. (Rule 3.a.ii)

- Hard, fibrous substance from tree trunks and branches

- Includes bark, particleboard, plywood, paper

- Excludes grasses, bamboo, cork, wood composites

- May not be painted, soaked, or chemically treated

What are the specific rules for adhesives? (Rule 3.a.iii)

- Used to join two or more materials

- Examples: cement, hot melt, cyanoacrylate, epoxy

- Commercially available only

- Adhesive tapes are not allowed

What are the Loading Block specifics? (Rule 5.b.i-ii)

- 5 cm x 5 cm x ~2 cm high

- Hole no larger than 8 mm diameter on top face

- 1/4 inch threaded eyebolt (1-inch nominal eye outside diameter)

- Eye bolt extends 1/2 inch to 2 1/2 inch above block

Describe the chain and loading mechanism. (Rule 5.b.iii-iv)

- Chain and S-hook suspended from eyebolt

- Bucket with handle attached to S-hook

- Bucket approximately 15 cm high x 14 cm diameter

- Spring-type clothespin for sand loading

What are the scoring components? (Rule 6)

- Load Score = Load Supported / Mass of Structure

- Load Scored Bonus for structures within 29 cm circle

- Estimated Load Supported used as tiebreaker

- Structures ranked in tiers based on construction parameters

What happens during Part II: Testing? (Rule 4, Part II)

- 6 minutes to set up and test

- Structure placed on Test Base

- Loading Assembly attached

- Sand loaded until failure or time expires

- Participants may not touch bucket during loading

What constitutes a "Structure Failure"? (Rule 4.j)

- Unable to carry additional load

- Any part of load supported by anything other than structure - Deflection of chain/eyebolt touches bucket

- Sand pours out after structure settles