Royal Society of Chemistry School’s Analyst Competition
All year 12 A level Chemistry students from Brooklands took part in the Royal Society of Chemistry School’s Analyst Competition recently. The competition involved them using and expanding on their existing chemistry knowledge and practical skills to investigate some unpleasant goings on at the Grand Baking Competition. Students were in teams and first worked together through chemical tests to identify an unknown white solid after the pantry had been ransacked and all the jars of general ingredients had had their labels removed with nine jars instead of eight. Students also had to determine the bicarbonate of soda content of cake extract with one cake being inedible and tasting of soap, one being flat and heavy. The last task saw students working out, using chromatography, who had written a handwritten note left in place of the ingredients when the infamous gingham cloth was removed.
The teams had to enter their results online where the winning team from the school was announced.