Einstein's Skateboard

Einstein's Skateboard

Albert Einstein never rode a skateboard. Last month, however, skateboarders caught big air on a halfpipe in honor of the famous physicist.
In a field house on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, near Washington, D.C., a handful of skaters and a BMX biker took turns pulling tricks on the pipe. Off to the side, five middle-school students watched intently. With video cameras bearing down on them and a deadline approaching, the students worked frantically to solve the team's first problem of the day.

Our challenge," said David Westrich, 14, of Cape Girardeau, Mo., "is to find the points along the halfpipe where skaters experience the most and least gravitational force."
"Skateboard Physics" was one of six activities that eight teams tackled as part of this year's Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge (DCYSC). Every year, the competition brings the nation's top 40 middle-school science-fair winners to Washington, D.C., to battle for thousands of dollars in scholarship money, dream science trips, video cameras, and other prizes.
Finalists are judged individually on their ability to work as part of a team and to solve problems in clever ways. Students also need to be good at explaining their ideas. Swarms of video cameras follow contestants everywhere they go. When the week is over, the Discovery Channel produces a TV special about the event.
Star of the show
This year at DCYSC, although the students received plenty of attention, Albert Einstein was the star of the show.
Nearly 100 years ago, in one "miraculous year," Einstein wrote three research articles that changed the face of physics forever. In one article, he showed how light could be viewed as waves of radiation or as a beam made up of particles—little bundles of energy. In another, he introduced relativity theory and later showed that energy can be converted into matter and matter into energy. Finally, he explained how tiny particles get bounced around in a liquid.
To mark the 100th anniversary of Einstein's amazing work in 1905, the year 2005 has been designated the "World Year of Physics." In 2000, Time magazine had named Einstein "Person of the Century."

So, it's not surprising that Einstein became the theme of this year's DCYSC competition. "Einstein is the man," said challenge designer Steve "Judge Jake" Jacobs. "He's a legend."
Einstein's scientific achievements involved thinking in new ways. He spent his time doing "thought experiments" rather than mixing things together in a lab.
"Einstein was able to focus his thinking so perfectly," Judge Jake said. "Here, the kids have to focus their thinking to achieve their goals."
Judge Jake's hope was that finalists would go home with a sense of appreciation for how brilliant Einstein really had been and a drive to be just as successful. "I hope that, just for a moment, they'll think the way Einstein thought," he said.
Radar guns
Four out of six challenges this year had direct connections to physics and Einstein.
In the "Skateboard Challenge," teams had to figure out that the gravitational force was greatest as the skaters accelerated downhill and that it was smallest when the skaters reached the top, just before starting down again. They used a computer program and data from a high-definition video camera and a device called an accelerometer to test their predictions.
One of the other physics-related activities was called "Radar Gun Luge." In it, students checked out the notion that the speed of an object, as measured by a moving observer, depends on the observer's speed.
Finalists used radar guns to measure the speed of two luge carts. One cart held a wild-haired Einstein doll. The other carried a remote-controlled radar gun.

Team members had to drag the carts to the top of two steep tracks, then release the carts at the same time. Altogether, they had 90 minutes to confirm that the doll's measured speed was twice as fast when measured from the other cart moving toward it as when it was measured by an observer standing at the side.
If this sounds confusing to you, you're not alone. More than halfway through the activity, the red team was looking visibly shaken. "All of our data is useless," said Nicholas Ekladyous, 14, from Imlay City, Mich., with a hint of panic in his voice.
"We have no data," answered his teammate Rebecca Chan, 13, from Encinitas, Calif.

Discussion about what to do next rapidly turned sour. With just 10 minutes left, Nick was trying to persuade his teammates that they should abandon their original strategy and make a new plan. "Nick," Rebecca said, "it's going to take you longer to talk us out of this than for us to just do it."
After that temporary breakdown, it was on to the next challenge.