relativity - 2025 ACF Winter

Question

Answer the following about physics motivated by thought experiments involving boats, for 10 points each.

[10e] Galileo’s ship is a thought experiment demonstrating a classical principle of this name. A later physicist and sailing enthusiast developed a “special” theory of this name during the annus mirabilis.

ANSWER: relativity [accept principle of relativity or special relativity; accept SR; reject “general relativity” or “GR”]

[10m] Konstantin Tsiolkovsky imagined someone leaping from a steamboat to derive an equation named for these specific objects that governs the change in their velocity as a function of their mass ratio.

ANSWER: rockets [prompt on spaceships or spacecraft]

[10h] This scientist’s paper “On Ship Waves” explains his namesake wake pattern produced by boats. This avid yachtsman observed that the convective derivative of circulation is zero in an ideal fluid.

ANSWER: Lord Kelvin [or William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin]

<Editors, Physics>

Back to bonuses

Summary


California	Main	Y	5	22.00	100%	100%	20%
Canada	Main	Y	6	11.67	83%	33%	0%
Florida	Main	Y	12	13.33	92%	33%	8%
Great Lakes	Main	Y	7	5.71	43%	14%	0%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main	Y	7	11.43	71%	43%	0%
Midwest	Main	Y	10	11.00	70%	30%	10%
North	Main	Y	11	11.82	82%	36%	0%
Northeast	Main	Y	5	8.00	40%	40%	0%
Overflow	Main	Y	4	15.00	75%	50%	25%
South Central	Main	Y	5	6.00	40%	20%	0%
Southeast	Main	Y	12	13.33	67%	58%	8%
UK	Main	Y	4	15.00	75%	75%	0%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main	Y	8	20.00	100%	88%	13%
2024 ARCADIA at UC Berkeley	04/19/2025	Y	4	17.50	100%	75%	0%

Data


Berkeley C	Berkeley B	10	10	10	30
Berkeley E	Berkeley D	10	10	0	20
Berkeley F	UCSC	10	10	0	20
Stanford B	Berkeley A	10	10	0	20
Stanford A	Stanford C	10	10	0	20
Claremont Scripps	UCLA D	10	0	0	10
UCLA B	UCLA A	10	10	0	20
Claremont Pitzer	UCLA C	10	10	0	20
UCI	UCSD Two Running Violet V Forms	0	0	0	0
UCSD Vices and Virtues	UCSB	10	0	0	10
USC	UCSD What Hath God Wrought	10	0	0	10
Carleton	Guelph A	10	0	0	10
McMaster C	McGill B	10	0	0	10
McGill C	Toronto H	10	10	0	20
Toronto A	Toronto G	10	10	10	30
Toronto B	Guelph B	10	10	0	20
Toronto I	Western Ontario	10	0	0	10
Toronto K	McMaster B	10	0	0	10
McMaster A	Queen's A	10	0	0	10
Toronto Metropolitan	Ottawa	0	0	0	0
Toronto J	Toronto C	10	0	0	10
Toronto D	McGill A	10	10	0	20
Waterloo	Queen's B	10	0	0	10
UF C	FSU	0	0	0	0
ERAU A	Melbourne B	0	0	0	0
FIU	UF E	10	0	0	10
ERAU B	Melbourne A	0	0	0	0
UF B	UCF B	0	0	0	0
UF A	UCF A	10	10	0	20
UF D	USF	10	0	0	10
CWRU C	CWRU D	10	0	0	10
MSU A	OSU D	10	10	0	20
MSU B	Pitt C	0	0	0	0
OSU A	CWRU B	10	10	0	20
OSU B	OSU C	10	0	0	10
Pitt A	CWRU A	10	10	0	20
Pitt B	Kenyon B	0	0	0	0
Clemson A	Tennessee A	10	0	0	10
James Madison	Clemson B	10	0	0	10
Virginia A	Liberty A	10	10	0	20
Liberty C	Liberty B	0	0	0	0
North Carolina B	North Carolina A	10	0	0	10
Tusculum	Roanoke	10	0	10	20
South Carolina A	Virginia Tech A	10	10	0	20
North Carolina C	South Carolina B	0	0	0	0
NC State	Tennessee B	0	0	0	0
Virginia Tech B	Virginia B	10	10	0	20
Notre Dame E	Catholic University	10	0	0	10
George Mason A	UMBC A	10	0	0	10
Maryland B	George Washington B	10	0	0	10
Georgetown B	Maryland D	10	10	0	20
George Mason B	Johns Hopkins A	0	0	0	0
VCU A	Maryland A	0	10	0	10
NYU A	Maryland C	10	10	0	20
Penn B	Johns Hopkins B	10	0	0	10
Johns Hopkins C	George Mason C	10	10	0	20
NYU B	George Washington A	10	0	0	10
Georgetown A	Penn A	10	0	0	10
Rutgers B	Rowan A	0	0	0	0
Rutgers C	Columbia A	10	10	0	20
Columbia C	Columbia B	0	0	0	0
Princeton A	Lehigh A	10	10	0	20
WashU C	Missouri A	10	0	0	10
SIUE	WashU D	0	0	0	0
WashU A	Missouri B	10	10	10	30
William Woods	WashU B	10	10	0	20
Amherst A	Dartmouth	10	0	0	10
Brown B	BC A	0	10	0	10
Yale B	BC B	0	0	0	0
BU	Brandeis Clemenceau	10	0	0	10
Amherst B	Bowdoin B	10	0	0	10
Brandeis Lloyd George	Brandeis Wilson	0	10	0	10
Cornell-UG	Brown A	10	10	0	20
Brown C	MIT B	10	0	0	10
Yale A	MIT A	10	10	0	20
Tufts A	Brandeis Orlando	10	10	0	20
Tufts B	Bowdoin A	0	10	0	10
Harvard	Williams	10	10	10	30
Alberta	British Columbia D	0	0	0	0
British Columbia A	Simon Fraser	10	10	0	20
Washington A	British Columbia B	10	10	0	20
Washington B	British Columbia C	10	10	0	20
Minnesota B	Macalester A	0	0	0	0
Macalester B	Wisconsin	10	10	0	20
Minnesota C	Minnesota A	10	0	0	10
Iowa State	Nebraska	0	0	0	0
St. Thomas	Carleton	0	0	0	0
Alberta B	Arizona State A	10	10	10	30
Texas A	Arizona State B	10	10	0	20
McGill D	Iowa	10	10	0	20
Northwestern A	UTD B	10	10	0	20
Northwestern B	Northwestern C	10	10	0	20
Texas B	Ohio	10	0	0	10
UTD A	Tulsa	10	10	0	20
UCO	Rose State	10	10	0	20
RIT A	Cornell-DII	10	10	0	20
Syracuse	ESF	10	0	0	10
RIT B	Binghamton A	10	10	0	20
Rochester	Binghamton B	10	10	0	20
Vassar A	Swarthmore A	0	0	0	0