Science Olympiad events are spread across five broad content areas:

• Life, Personal, and Social Science
• Earth and Space Science
• Physical Science and Chemistry
• Technology and Engineering
• Inquiry and Nature of Science

Within these broad content areas, the Science Olympiad program is able to connect, challenge, and inspire students in a wide range of STEM-related disciplines.

2013 Science Olympiad Events

Event Descriptions

• Anatomy (B) - Teams will be tested on their knowledge of anatomy and health concepts including nervous and digestive systems.
• Anatomy & Physiology (C) - This event encompasses the anatomy and physiology of selected body systems, this year limited to nervous, excretory and digestive systems.
• Astronomy (C) - Teams will demonstrate an understanding of the basic concepts of math and physics relating to stellar evolution and Type II supernovas.
• Boomilever (B/C) - Students will build a cantilevered wooden structure.
• Chemistry Lab (C) - Teams will demonstrate chemistry laboratory skills related to periodicity and equilibrium.
• Circuit Lab (C) - Students will compete in theoretical and practical activities involving knowledge of direct current (DC) electrical circuits.
• Crime Busters (B) - Teams will identify the perpetrators of a crime or crimes by using paper chromatography and analysis of unknown solids, liquids, and plastics found at the scene of a crime.
• Designer Genes (C) - Students will solve problems using their knowledge of molecular genetics and biotechnology.
• Disease Detective (B/C) - This event requires students to apply principles of epidemiology to a published report of a real-life health situation or problem. (Environmental Quality)
• Dynamic Planet (B/C) - Teams will work at stations that display a variety of earth science materials and related earth science questions. (Glaciers)
• Experimental Design (B/C) - Given a set of unknown objects, teams will design, conduct, analyze and write-up an experiment.
• Fermi Questions (C) - A Fermi Question is a science related question that seeks a fast, rough estimate of a quantity which is difficult or impossible to measure directly. Answers will be estimated within an order of magnitude recorded in powers of 10.
• Gravity Vehicle (C) - Teams design, build and test one vehicle and ramp that uses gravitational potential energy as the vehicle's sole means of propulsion to reach a Target Point as quickly, as accurately and as close to their predicted time as possible.
• Helicopters (B) - Students will construct and test free flight rubber-powered helicopters prior to the tournament to achieve maximum flight times.
• Heredity (B) - Students will solve problems and analyze data or diagrams using their knowledge of the basic principles of genetics.
• Materials Science (C) - Teams will answer a series of questions or complete tasks involving the scientific processes of chemistry focused in the areas of materials science.
• Meteorology (B) - This event involves the use of process skills as applied to meteorology. (Everyday Weather)
• Metric Mastery (B) - Students will demonstrate an intuitive feeling for estimating then measuring metric units including mass, volume, area, surface area, force, distance, time and temperature.
• Mousetrap Vehicle (B) - Teams will design, build and test a vehicle using one mousetrap as the sole means of propulsion to reach a target as quickly, accurately and close to their predicted time as possible.
• Reach for the Stars (B) - Students will demonstrate an understanding and basic knowledge of the properties and evolution of stars, open clusters and globular clusters, and normal and star-forming galaxies.
• Remote Sensing (C) - Teams use remote sensing imagery, science and math process skills to complete tasks related to an understanding of Earth's Hydrosphere.
• Rocks and Minerals (B/C) - Teams will demonstrate their knowledge of rocks and minerals.
• Rotor Egg Drop (C) - A team will construct a helicopter device which uses one or more helicopter rotors to safely transport a raw chicken egg from a specified height to the floor.
• Shock Value (B) - Students will compete in activities involving basic understanding of electricity, magnetism and simple electrical devices.
• Water Quality (B/C) - The event will focus on evaluating aquatic environments. (Freshwater/Estuaries)
• Write It/Do It (B/C) - A technical writing exercise where students write a description of a contraption and other students will attempt to recreate it using only the written description.