Which of the following pairs of German scientists discovered the atomic fission of uranium and set the stage for the nuclear age?

The human pelvic girdle is composed of three fused bones on each side, for a total of six bones. Name the three bones.

These are just two examples of the types of questions that will be asked of high school students at the 10th annual Ames Lab/ISU Science Bowl, which will be held on Saturday in the Memorial Union.

Students from 48 high schools statewide will be descending on Iowa State at 8 a.m. to participate in the competition, which annually pits teams of high school students in a battle of science knowledge. The winning team will earn the right to advance to the final national competition in Maryland.

Ames Lab and Iowa State, co-sponsors of the contest, had to prepare for a bigger crowd this year than in the past.

Steve Karsjen, bowl coordinator, said organizers decided to admit eight more schools this year because of the high interest in the contest, though they still had to leave many more schools on a waiting list.

“We had to get every room we could get our hands on [in the MU],” he said.

Each high school is required to come up with a team of five students — four members and one alternate — as well as a coach, usually a science teacher at the school, Karsjen said.

Teams compete in a morning round-robin competition, with the top 16 teams going on to a double elimination round in the afternoon. The team with the most points at the end of the afternoon wins, he said.

The Department of Energy provides a list of questions for the moderators to ask the students, covering subjects from biology and chemistry to computer science and mathematics, Karsjen said.

“The first question is called a toss-up question and is usually answered by just one team member and, if answered correctly, the team is then given a bonus question with a certain amount of time to work on it and come up with an answer,” he said.

Susan Dieterle, media relations coordinator for Ames Lab, said the lab enjoys putting on an event that allows them to reach out to youth interested in science.

“We consider the science bowl an outreach event, something to get the community involved,” she said.

Dieterle said about 90 faculty and staff from the Ames Lab and Iowa State have volunteered to act as moderators, judges, timekeepers and scorekeepers.