You might be tempted to think that trying to make music with a pair of flip-flops, a converted box

By Sean Barron

You might be tempted to think that trying to make music with a pair of flip-flops, a converted box and plumbing fixtures amounts to little more than a pipe dream.

But don’t tell that to Zac Wells, Marc Steer and Kyle McLaughlin.

That was the combination of materials the three West Branch High School seniors used to play their rendition of the children’s song “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and make quite an impression.

“We used what we had available and wanted to stand out,” Wells explained.

The three came up with the idea to make a xylophone using pipes cut from electrical conduit material, as well as a makeshift snare drum from a plywood box they modified to allow for different tones. Wells used the flip-flops to strike a separate set of pipes they painted purple and produce the familiar melody — which started out a cappella before launching into a faster, swinging jazz harmony.

Wells, Steer and McLaughlin were among a few hundred high school students to participate in Saturday’s 31st annual Physics Olympics in Youngstown State University’s Beeghly Center. The music portion was one of 12 events to make up the competition, which featured 14 teams representing schools in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.

As part of their project, the seniors also were required to write a research paper detailing a knowledge of the physics involved in the music.

Steer said all three also were influenced by the Blue Man Group, an organization of musicians who paint themselves blue and perform numerous abstract musical concepts. The group is known for its popular shows and concerts that combine music, comedy and multimedia theatrics.

Tracey Kolencik wasn’t dealing with music scores but was doing her best to score points by firing a ping-pong ball onto a square platform.

Kolencik, a senior at Chardon High School in Geauga County, used a catapult device she built with fellow seniors and teammates Bryan Gregorich and Taylor Ross to try to hit a bull’s-eye. Students had to launch ping pong balls from 2, 4 and 7 meters from the circular target, and points were awarded for how close they came to the platform’s center, she said.

Teams were permitted to launch four balls at targets from the three distances, with the final score being the sum of scores from each of three phases of the competition, noted Dan Robertson, the three students’ physics teacher.

In another event, participants had to come up with ways to heat water at least 5 degrees in a short time, which was anything but cut and dry.

“The students [had] to come up with an idea to heat up water using a mechanical contraption in less than 15 minutes,” explained Ami Ingraham, a YSU student who volunteered to assist with that competition.

Examples of such means included bicycles with copper or steel piping, and sandpaper, noted Ingraham, who’s majoring in education with an emphasis on middle-school math and science.

The temperature change divided by time spent determined students’ score, she added.

Others tried their luck with water in a different way, using 10-foot-long pipes cut in half that acted as troughs for floating devices they propelled. Competitors got to explore principles of propulsion, making their devices go as far as possible in water that was 3.5 centimeters deep.

On display was a collage of drawing and paintings some students made that recognized the 400-year history of the telescope. Many of the works had astronomy themes, with some paying homage to Galileo.

The other seven competitions were designing a container to protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped; a quiz seeking a rough estimate of a quantity that’s impossible to measure directly; a separate quiz show; flying-machine and free-standing bridge competitions; solving a mystery; and a mousetrap-powered vehicle to transport a 500-gram mass the farthest.

One of the competition’s main purposes was to give the youngsters an opportunity to show their knowledge and appreciation of physics, noted Roy McCullough, a YSU physics instructor and event coordinator. The 12 events were designed to be diverse enough to let the teens use their talents and strengths in the field, McCullogh said.

“We try to allow students with various skills to show those skills,” he added.