VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University is posing a puzzling question on an international scale.

The university’s chemistry department will host its first-ever international online periodic puzzle competition beginning at 8 p.m., March 7.

The competition will end at 5 p.m., March 26.

Though the final registration is still a month away, close to 30 groups have already registered.

“There are several from VSU but we hope to get more from South Georgia middle schools and high schools,” said Dr. Thomas Manning, VSU professor of chemistry.

The contest challenges participants to solve Sudoku-style puzzles by answering chemistry-based riddles.

Students, in groups of six, can enter the contest in one of three categories: high school, lower-level undergraduate, and upper level undergraduate.

Middle school students can compete in groups as large as 15 students.

Those competing at the middle school, high school and university levels must have an academic adviser who helps facilitate during the competition but does not help in the actual completion of the puzzles.

The final category is open to people of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels.

The open division does not require an academic adviser as some participants may not be enrolled in school or at a university.

The groups will have almost three weeks to solve 25 chemistry-based puzzles derived from the logic of Latin Squares.

Competition will require students to complete nine-by-nine grids by deciphering riddles to determine placement of elemental symbols, which represent the Periodic Table of elements.

The 81 symbols are categorized into nine groups based on their chemical properties and table position to create the grid.

The first group to return all 25 correctly completed puzzles before the 5 p.m., March 26, deadline wins. Award certificates will be awarded to the top three finishers in each group.

For the last three years, Manning and his chemistry students have collaborated with students from Instituto Superior de Tecnologías y Ciencias Aplicadas (InSTEC) in Havana, Cuba, to complete similar chemistry-based Sudoku-style puzzles.

Students at both universities developed riddles which focused on various aspects of the Periodic Table and exchanged them.

The collaboration is not only a good academic and education endeavor for the universities, but a good show of positive diplomacy, which leads to bigger opportunities, Manning said.

The hope is to expand the competition in 2011, he said.

“This year’s competition is part of the build-up to 2011 event, which is the IYC or International Year of Chemistry,” Manning said. “With the growth of the Internet, we can easily have hundreds of teams from many countries compete in a friendly competition.”

In addition to making science education fun, Manning said, there is a level of intrigue for a student to know they are doing something with a student in China, England, Cuba, Nigeria and Brazil at the same time.

“These students will be competing in a global economy in the future,” he said.

The event is a collaborative effort between the chemistry departments at both VSU and InSTEC, the American Chemical Society, the Florida Academy of Science and VSU’s Center for International Programs.

VSU’s Student Affiliates chemistry chapter (SACCS) is also helping with the event.

For the full list of rules and to register for the competition visit the Web site at http://www.valdosta.

edu/periodicpuzzles/. For more information e-mail Manning at tmanning@valdosta.edu for more information.



• Periodic Puzzle Competition

Registration should be completed 48 hours before competition opens on March 7, but groups will be allowed to enter competition up to March 20.

Universities, colleges, middle and high schools can have more than one group competing but each group should have an academic adviser.

The 25 puzzles must be completed in order.

Puzzles will be graded in sequential order and if a puzzle is wrong, the group will only get credit for the number of puzzles completed before the incorrect puzzle.

Puzzles should be solved without outside help (teachers, advisers, parents, etc.) and without any type of electronic puzzle solver.