Eastern’s Society of Physics Students will be hosting its first homemade hovercraft competition at 2 p.m. Saturday in the McAfee Gymnasium.

A meeting of the Society of Physics Students last semester prompted the group to come up with the idea to get more involvement in physics activities.

The Eastern and Charleston community were encouraged through flyers and Facebook posts to sign up for the competition as well as build their very own hovercraft.

Groups of two to five people were the only requirement for sign-up.

With prizes such as a giant Jenga set, a $50 gift card to the Penalty Box, a homemade trophy and a $100 cash prize, this competition is set on putting a fun spin on physics.

Two teammates are preparing for the big day by building a hovercraft unlike the rest.

Tom Sticha, vice president of the Society of Physics Students and a senior engineering physics major, and Nick Nezamis, president of the Society of Physics Students and senior engineering cooperative major, are a hovercraft wonder-duo.

“We wanted to design something a little different, make it smaller…more sleek,” Sticha said.

The teammates built their project using as little as four necessities: plywood, a shower curtain, a leaf blower and duct tape.

They are hoping to beat their competition in the race across the finish line by hovering the fastest while on the hovercraft.

“You turn the leaf blower on, the air blows into the curtain and it pops it up and allows you to float like a hockey puck around,” Sticha said.

Their hovercraft typically pops up half a foot off the ground at start-up.

The teammates credit their (hopefully) winning strategy to trial and error while testing their hovercraft.

“We figured out that this material was really weak when we built it. Then we upgraded to heavy duty staples,” Nezamis said.

Earplugs will be readily available at the competition, as the noise of many hovercrafts can be a bit overwhelming.

“I am impressed with the other opponent that is going up against us. He has CO2 cans and check valves. So, you can go all out for this,” Nezamis said.

Although the deadline to sign up and receive a T-shirt to the event has since passed, late registration for the event is available with an entry fee of $5 per person.

Besides the race, there will be prizes for best looking hovercraft, most creative and more.

“I just hope that if people signed up, we can show them that it is not that hard as you think it is. You do not have to be an engineering major or physics major to build something like this,” Nezamis said.

The teammates are hoping to further this competition and make it an annual tradition for the Charleston community.

The Society of Physics Students tried to reach out to the surrounding high schools but, according to Sticha, “there were more logistics involved in safety.”

“I wish we did something like this in high school,” Sticha said.

Nezamis believes a competition like this can have a huge effect on the correlation of students and physics.

“It would be a way to intrigue more students in high school to try to go for more science-related things,” he said.

Because of that, Sticha and Nezamis are offering the extra leaf blower and plywood they have left over to any group willing to participate.

Groups interested in participating should contact Sticha at tmsticha@eiu.edu.

Rose Sacco can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].