Good luck to BSSC Chemistry students who took part in the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) annual challenge that seeks to find the best titration team in each state and territory—and then find the national champions from amongst the group.
Seven teams, each with three students, had 90 minutes to—carefully and methodically—complete their tasks and attempt to be the first to find equilibrium in three acid samples. Handling long glass pipettes, beakers, funnels and other scientific paraphernalia, and the care required to get exactly the correct concentration, required full attention.
The teams were mostly Year 11 students—but a couple of Year 12s couldn’t resist the opportunity to come back and have another go at this challenge.
“The students are trying to create, and then accurately identify, the very narrow window where the solution reaches the perfect acid-base balance,” teacher Jane Fong explained.
“They practice some important skills including safety in the lab; setting up and handling the equipment and solutions; accurately reading the scale on the pipettes and then using their analytical skills to analyse their data. These are essential skills for those going on to study science at uni.”
