Results
The winner of the 2016 Tournament was Shenzhen Middle School. The second place winner was Rye Country Day School. The tournament was hosted at Randolph College. The Swartz Trophy went to Nanjing Foreign Language School.
Problems
Blender Lift: If you hold an immersion hand blender's blades under water in a beaker or pot or pail, under certain circumstances you can lift the beaker and the water by lifting only the hand blender as shown in the picture below. Study this phenomenon for a wide range of the relevant parameters comparing your theory that explains the effect to the experimental results. Predict the maximum weight of water and container that your blender can lift and verify this prediction by experiment.
Transformer Impedance Reflection: A YouTube video titled "Transformers – Experiments and Demos" shows a demo at the 4 minute mark. The demo purports to show that removing a light bulb in the secondary circuit of a transformer will cause a light bulb in series with the primary to turn off, i.e., "a impedance reflection. " Analyze this demo and the published explanation of this effect (W. Layton Transformer Impedance Reflection, The Physics Teacher 52 (7), Oct 2014, p. 426-427). Provide theoretical and experimental evidence to explain or refute this effect.
Bouncing Laser Beam: A laser will curve and even bounce in a medium whose index of refraction decreases with height. Although there are several ways to produce this medium, the photo below was created by pouring thick, transparent Karo syrup into a tank and then pouring water on top of the syrup. Approximately 12 hours later, the bouncing laser beam can be observed. Create this apparatus or a similar one, study the theory of this effect, and use your results to measure the index of refraction of the medium as a function of height from the bottom of the tank.