Physics Competition
Join the Challenge
The State of Iowa Physics Competition is a series of five physics events for high school (Grades 9-12) students. The competition stresses creativity and ingenuity as well as an understanding of physics related principles and is intended to stimulate interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The competition emphasizes the scientific and engineering practices found in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and participation in the competition integrated with appropriate instruction can address the Iowa Core.
The 2024-25 State Physics Competition will be held on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at the University of Northern Iowa McLeod Center in Cedar Falls.
Updated information about the 2024-25 Competition will be provided in the future.
Spring 2024 Competition
The 2023-24 State Physics Competition will be held on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) McLeod Center in Cedar Falls.
Registration begins at 8:30 am. Check-In for all events begins at 9 am. Some preliminary round events may begin for those schools who need to leave early. All preliminary round events will begin at 9:30 am. Final round events will begin as early as 11:00 am. Schools should have students bring lunch and have students eat lunch when they can since it will be a quick transition from the preliminary to final rounds. The competition should end by 3 pm with Announcement and presentations of awards scheduled by this time or earlier. Test events will be available for students to try out during the day. Exhibits and demonstrations may also be planned during the day. See 2024 Iowa Physics Competition Rules and Day of Competition Information for more detailed information.
The events for the Spring 2024 competition include the following:
- Catapult,
- Mouse trap car,
- Bridge building,
- Optical Slalom, and
- Measurement
Please note that the Optical Slalom event replaces the Soda Straw Arm event this year. Also note revisions made to the other events. See 2024 Iowa Physics Competition Rules for more detailed information.
Students will use a variety of everyday, inexpensive materials such as mousetraps, compact discs, rubber bands, toothpicks, mirrors, etc. to build devices or to layout a "course" to accomplish specific tasks (catapult, mouse trap car, toothpick bridge, and optical slalom) and to determine the measurement and uncertainty for a given object (measurement). See rules below for the specific details for each event.
The 2023-24 State Physics Competition will be held on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) McLeod Center in Cedar Falls.
Registration begins at 8:30 am. Check-In for all events begins at 9 am. Some preliminary round events may begin for those schools who need to leave early. All preliminary round events will begin at 9:30 am. Final round events will begin as early as 11:00 am. Schools should have students bring lunch and have students eat lunch when they can since it will be a quick transition from the preliminary to final rounds. The competition should end by 3 pm with Announcement and presentations of awards scheduled by this time or earlier. Test events will be available for students to try out during the day. Exhibits and demonstrations may also be planned during the day. See 2024 Iowa Physics Competition Rules and Day of Competition Information for more detailed information.
The events for the Spring 2024 competition include the following:
- Catapult,
- Mouse trap car,
- Bridge building,
- Optical Slalom, and
- Measurement
Please note that the Optical Slalom event replaces the Soda Straw Arm event this year. Also note revisions made to the other events. See 2024 Iowa Physics Competition Rules for more detailed information.
Students will use a variety of everyday, inexpensive materials such as mousetraps, compact discs, rubber bands, toothpicks, mirrors, etc. to build devices or to layout a "course" to accomplish specific tasks (catapult, mouse trap car, toothpick bridge, and optical slalom) and to determine the measurement and uncertainty for a given object (measurement). See rules below for the specific details for each event.
Iowa Physics Competition
The State of Iowa Physics Competition includes one open state competition that include preliminary and final rounds on the same day with the preliminary round beginning by 9:30 am and the final round beginning around 11 am. The preliminary round replaces the regional competition to be used as a qualifier for the final round for the state competition. Regional competitions may still be held for teams to practice for the state competition but the teams still must qualify in the preliminary round on the day of the state competition to move onto the final round.
Each participating school will be allowed to bring up to 3 entries per event (or 3 event teams) for the State of Iowa Physics Competition preliminary round. For all events, only the top 10 teams for different schools for each event will compete in the final round. Only a school's highest scoring event team will go onto the final round to compete for individual event medals and to represent their school for overall competition awards.
The overall school team score will be the sum of the 5 event scores in the final round with the 3 highest scoring school teams being awarded trophies and overall individual medals. All students from these schools who are registered (up to 3 event teams per school) will be awarded overall individual medals. The top 3 event teams for each event in the final round will be awarded event medals. Only those students competing in the final round will be awarded event medals.
See 2024 Iowa Physics Competition Rules for more detailed information.
The State of Iowa Physics Competition is hosted by the UNI Physics Department and coordinated by Dr. Larry Escalada (Lawrence.Escalada@uni.edu). Please feel free to contact Larry if you have any questions about the competition.