Results

The winner of the 2018 Tournament was Phillips Exeter Academy. The second place winner was The Harker School. The tournament was hosted at Randolph College. The Swartz Trophy went to Shenzhen Middle School.

Problems

The Moon’s Orbit: Measure the moon’s three main orbital elements: (1) the period of its orbit, (2) the eccentricity of its orbit, and (3) the semi-major axis of its orbit.

Electromagnetically Coupled Mechanical Oscillators: Set up a system of coupled mechanical oscillators, but rather than coupling them using a mechanical device, such as a rod, they must be coupled electromagnetically without any external power source. How does your system work fundamentally?

Projectile Motion through Air: For this problem, you are to investigate the motion of a spinning ball theoretically and experimentally. How, and under what circumstances, does the Galilean model need to be adapted?

Incandescent Light Bulbs and Blackbody Radiation: Use common incandescent light bulbs to verify the proportionality laws of both Stefan and Wien.