Do you want to participate as a competitor in the PLANCKS? You are in the right place! As they say, “first duty and then pleasure”! Let’s talk about the competition, then.
PLANCKS are open to 50 teams. Each of them must be composed of 3 or 4 people; the team composition can change after the registration only under the approval of the organizing committee, which has to be acknowledged. Furthermore, as stated in the PLANCKS General Rules document (PLANCKS General Rules Physics League Across Numerous Countries for Kickass Students), all the team members must be IAPS members. In particular, the International Association of Physics Students (IAPS) includes National (NC), Local Committees(LC), and Individual Members (in locations where none of them exist).
But how are the teams chosen? Please, contact your country's National (or Local) Committee to get information about it. Indeed, each NC and LC involved in organizing preliminaries has to communicate the names of all the teams (and components) participating in preliminaries by the 5th of February.
The day after the 5th of February, we will contact each NC and LC, communicating the number of their teams admitted to the finals. Each committee shall have the right to be represented by one at least. However, the OC may accept more teams from a given NC or LC, based on the number of teams participating in the preliminaries and the results of those committees in previous editions of PLANCKS.
Once a preliminary is over, the Organizing NC or LC should communicate the ranking of the teams (confirmation) to the PLANCKS OC within the 9th of April. For this purpose, a confirmation form will be published on our website. Once received, the PLANCKS OC will send formal invitations for the selected teams back to the NC or the LC.
The rules decided during the extraordinary EGM of December 2020 and present in this document will apply at PLANCKS23.
If your team is among those admitted… Welcome to Milan! To attend the competition, you have to go to the Physics Department of the University of Milan (Via Celoria 16, Milan) on Sunday 14 of May. Over there, your team will have 4 hours to solve 10 problems concerning many fields of physics. Each group is allowed to bring a dictionary (from English to their native language), a scientific calculator, or a simple one (a non-graphing one). Teams cannot consult books or other sources of information. Any hardware not approved by the organization is forbidden, except for simple watches and medical equipment.
"May the odds be ever in your favor". Furthermore, we remind you that:
Despite the considerable importance of the competition, there will be several other essential moments between May 12th and 16th, such as:
Each of you has something important to say, so don't be afraid to share it. We cannot wait!
Observers join all the activities but the competition together with the competing teams. Indeed, an observer's experience will substitute the exam. Their participation in the event is essential as it strengthens international connections and increases the worldwide exchange of physics students. They may also gain experience in PLANCKS as future organizers or discuss opportunities for improvement. If you are in this category, you can apply individually within the 5th of February using the proper form on our website. The result of the selection of the observers will be available a few days after the 5th of February.
Here are some of the major moments in which the observers will be involved:
