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USC expertise used in chemistry brainstorm
From burettes to pipettes to titration skills, the best of the University of the Sunshine Coast’s chemistry resources will be on show this Saturday 16 May.
USC will host more than 50 local high school students, their parents and teachers as part of the regional category of the 2009 National Schools Chemical Analysis Competition.
Head of Biomedical and Paramedic Sciences Dr Mark Holmes said more than 16 teams of three, from Years 10 to 12, would compete in acid-base titration – a method of analysing the concentration of an unknown solution.
The students whose results most closely match the concentration of solutions prepared earlier by USC chemists will win and go to the state final.
“It’s the tenth year USC has hosted this event because our state-of-the-art laboratories and central location are ideal,” Dr Holmes said.
Types of equipment would include burettes (vertical glass cylinders with taps), pipettes (glass measuring tubes) and general lab glassware such as beakers and funnels.
“Our chemist team led by Dr Peter Brooks is this week preparing the solutions for the competition, which requires a concentration correct to four decimal places. We also provide technical assistance and other support.”
He said the annual event, organised by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, aimed to attract more young people into studying chemistry.
A general decline in the number of students doing pure chemistry degrees, despite an abundance of jobs, had been attributed to its level of difficulty and misconceptions.
– Julie Gatehouse