Standard Exercises Towards Physics Olympiad

Preface to English Edition The Committee of Japan Physics Olympiad (JPhO), a Non-Profit Organization approved and supported by Japanese government, has organized the domestic competition of physics, called ‘Physics Challenge’, for high-school students every year since 2005, and also has selected and sent five best students as the Japan delegates to International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) every year since 2006. The main aim of the activity of our Committee is to promote and stimulate high-school-level physics education in Japan from the view point of global standard which we have learned from IPhO. The Physics Challenge consists of three stages, the First Challenge, the Second Challenge, and the Challenge Final. The Fist Challenge is for selecting about 100 students from all applicants (1000～1500 in total every year); every applicant is required to take a theoretical examination (90 min, multiple-choice type), which is held at more than 70 places on a Sunday in June. The applicants are also required to submit a report on an experiment done by themselves. The subject of the experiment is announced several months before the submission deadline. The Second Challenge is a four-day camp held in August; all students in the Second Challenge lodge together for the whole four days and take a theoretical competition and an experimental one, each of which is a five-hour examination. This is just like the competitions at IPhO. The best 10-15 students, who show excellent scores in the Second Challenge are nominated as candidates for Japan team to IPhO．They are then required to participate four-day “Winter camp” at the end of December and four-day “Spring camp” at the end of March. They are also required to have monthly e-mail traning, which consists of series of questions and reports from September to March. At the end of “Spring camp”, these candidates take the Challenge Final, which consists of theoretical and experimental examinations for selecting five students who will…