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 (UNI) Maucker Union in Central Ballrooms A, B, & C. Please note the change of venue for this year’s competition.
Spring 2025 Competition
The 2024-25 State Physics Competition will be held on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Maucker Union in the Central Ballrooms. Please note the change of venue of this year’s competition.
Registration begins at 8:30 am. Check-In for all events begins at 9 am. The preliminary round for events will begin at 9:30 am but schools who check in early may begin to compete as early as 9 am. The final round may begin as early as 11 am and will end before 3 pm. Physics Teams will tour the UNI Physics Department with opportunities to talk to Physics faculty and students about undergraduate programs, camps for high school students, and professional development for teachers.
UNI Dining is offering Physics Teams that pre-order lunch tickets a special offer of $10.00 (regular price $12) per lunch ticket. Teams must pre-order by April 1, 2025 at this link. Lunch tickets are good at Piazza Dining Center on campus on the day of the competition. Teams may also purchase lunch at the door for the regular price of $12.00 per lunch ticket by credit card only.
The events for the Spring 2025 competition include the following:
- Catapult,
- Mousetrap car,
- The Flying Machine,
- Optical Slalom, and
- Fermi Questions
Please note that The Flying Machine event replaces the Bridge Building event and the Fermi Questions even replaces the Measurement event this year. Also note revisions made to the other events. See 2025 Iowa Physics Competition Rules for more detailed information.
Students will use a variety of everyday, inexpensive materials such as mousetraps, compact discs, rubber bands, mirrors, etc. to build devices or to layout a "course" to accomplish specific tasks (catapult, mouse trap car, flying machine, and optical slalom) and to determine estimates of a quantity that is either difficult or impossible to measure directly (Fermi Questions). See rules below for the specific details for each event.
The 2024-25 State Physics Competition will be held on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Maucker Union in the Central Ballrooms. Please note the change of venue of this year’s competition.
Registration begins at 8:30 am. Check-In for all events begins at 9 am. The preliminary round for events will begin at 9:30 am but schools who check in early may begin to compete as early as 9 am. The final round may begin as early as 11 am and will end before 3 pm. Physics Teams will tour the UNI Physics Department with opportunities to talk to Physics faculty and students about undergraduate programs, camps for high school students, and professional development for teachers.
UNI Dining is offering Physics Teams that pre-order lunch tickets a special offer of $10.00 (regular price $12) per lunch ticket. Teams must pre-order by April 1, 2025 at this link. Lunch tickets are good at Piazza Dining Center on campus on the day of the competition. Teams may also purchase lunch at the door for the regular price of $12.00 per lunch ticket by credit card only.
The events for the Spring 2025 competition include the following:
- Catapult,
- Mousetrap car,
- The Flying Machine,
- Optical Slalom, and
- Fermi Questions
Please note that The Flying Machine event replaces the Bridge Building event and the Fermi Questions even replaces the Measurement event this year. Also note revisions made to the other events. See 2025 Iowa Physics Competition Rules for more detailed information.
Students will use a variety of everyday, inexpensive materials such as mousetraps, compact discs, rubber bands, mirrors, etc. to build devices or to layout a "course" to accomplish specific tasks (catapult, mouse trap car, flying machine, and optical slalom) and to determine estimates of a quantity that is either difficult or impossible to measure directly (Fermi Questions). 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 includes 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.
See Iowa Physics Competition Rules for more detailed information.
The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) Frederick and Florence Bauder Endowment for the Support of Physics Teaching Fund is co-sponsoring the 2025 State of Iowa Physics Competition. If you are a high school physics teacher, consider joining the AAPT to become the best physics educator you can be. See flyer for more 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.