On Tuesday 14 May 2024, myself and several other students had the opportunity to participate in the Kirkcudbright Rotary Young Chemist of The Year Competition. This involved a written test, based on an entire year’s worth of content, and 2 experiments which had calculations we needed to figure out. The test was challenging with the highest scores being in the 80s%; this played a big part in where you placed at the end.
For the experiments, the first of the two was to try and calculate how much vitamin C was in a carton of orange juice. We were given a sample calculation to follow and did a titration using a burette filled with Iodine solution. The Iodine was dropped into a conical flask filled with orange juice, water and a small bit of starch solution. We then recorded how much Iodine was used to turn the mixture from orange to blue, which showed us that the starch had reacted with the iodine. The value we recorded was then used to determine how much Vitamin C was in the mixture. Next, using various calculations, we used this figure to determine the mass of the vitamin C within the mixture, and then turned that into how much was in the volume of the entire carton of orange juice.
The second experiment we did was to try and figure out which of 4 urine samples matched one labelled the ‘villain’. For each sample, we worked out how much starch and glucose there was, the pH and any other observations (e.g. strong smell, clear colourless) and then compared this against the ‘villains’ sample, to determine who the villain was.
Everyone put lots of work in with smiles on their faces and had fun. The pupils however that did best over the entire competition were as follows; First – Ally Gourlay, Second – Thor Helson, Third – Maya Patel. A huge thank you to The Kirkcudbright Rotary for organising the event, I would strongly encourage others to participate in future events if they get the chance.
By Ally Gourlay
