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Wichita Homeschool Warriors
Due to the concern of American political leaders, investors, and fuel-researchers over the rise in oil prices, scientists have been doing extensive research into the development of man-made fuels. However, until recently, not much progress has been made and no source has been found that could successfully and efficiently replace raw oil. Fortunately, BEST researchers have recently discovered a chlorophyll catalyst that should be able to aid in the process of combining CO2 and H2O to produce combustible fuels. Before releasing this new technology to the public, BEST needs to prove the efficiency of the reactions. The cost will be great and there are time constraints, so BEST has called in robotics teams from around the nation to experiment with the formulas and invent the most efficient way to produce the fuels within the time limits.
Isooctane is the fuel that BEST is trying to produce. The formula for creating this fuel is C6H6 + C2H4 + 4H2 + Energy + Catalyst à C8H18. To create this formula, other formulas must be made first. Benzene (C6H6), can be created using Ethylene (C2H4), which must be made using CO2, H2O, energy, and catalyst. There are many complexities to this year’s game, not the least of which is the scoring system. For example, if you pick up 10 game pieces, but don’t have the right formulas, you may get fewer points than if you only pick up 5 game pieces. The score is represented by a nine digit base 4 number. In order, the digits represent: Overflow, Isooctane, Naptha, Benzene, Ethylene, CO2, Energy, Catalyst, and finally H2O. So, if the number is 110,123,101, then you have one overflow, one isooctane, zero naptha, one benzene, two ethylene, three CO2, one energy, zero catalyst, and one H2O. This also means that if you pick up four H2O, it rolls over and is replaced with one catalyst. In addition, the scoring is not reset in each round and the number is kept, so you must be careful to keep only the materials that you need to maintain the highest score
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