OUR Year 12 Chemistry students took part in the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Schools’ Analyst Competition on May 6th.
The competition enables students across the UK to demonstrate and expand on their existing Chemistry knowledge, skills and aptitude for analytical Science through practical analytical experiments based on relevant societal or industrial problems.
Scott Mathie, Teacher of Chemistry at King’s Ely Senior, said: “King’s Ely was one of only 200 schools selected to take part in the competition, which is coordinated by Dr Graeme Turnbull, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at Northumbria University. The UK and Republic of Ireland are organised into nine RSC Analytical Division regions. Our student groups will be entered into the regional heat and the highest scoring team in each region will win an extra prize for them and their school.
“In the competition, our five groups of three students were analytical chemists employed to help with the investigation of three damaged chemical barrels found washed up beside the River Flumen in the rural town of Allvale. Alerted by the fire service, investigators have taken samples of the contents of the barrels and provided them for analysis.
“Each group had three hours to perform three separate analytical chemical tests to identify the samples provided. Each group worked diligently and completed the tasks within the allocated time. Results will be marked on the answers given by each team. Teachers will be informed of school and regional winners in June. A special thank you to Chemistry Technician, Mrs Edwards, who spent many additional hours preparing and organising the experiments.”
We look forward to hearing how our Chemists did next month!