Cambridge Chemistry Race
Five Sixth Form students travelled to the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge for the Cambridge Chemistry Race. The competing teams raced against each other to solve chemistry problems against the clock.
Vignesh B and Parul K of Year 13, and Guruguhan B, Nandhan S and Alice X of Year 13 answered questions on:
The simplest molecule containing only carbon and nitrogen; branched-chain amino acids; ESI ionisation for mass spectrometry; amphetamines; jelly babies; the amino acid taurine found in energy drinks; TNT; the anti nausea drug dramamine; the chemical dangers of absinthe; a compound containing a gold-xenon bond; valence shell electron pair repulsion theory; mechanochemistry; the Victor Meyer experiment; the concentration of phosphoric acid in coca cola; electrides; Angela Merkel and the hydrogen trams crisis in Lower Saxony in September 2024; smell detection; luciferins; barbiturates; isomerisations; boranes; kaolin; phloroglucinol; cyclophosphines; tricky titrations; nanoputians; atomic bombs, Oppenheimer and Einstein; benzene; Charles Darwin's lactose intolerance; the kinetics of pizza browning; the accidental discovery of the first synthetic dye; antiviral drugs; the Overman rearrangement; plug-flow reactors; the Smiles rearrangement; x-ray diffraction patterns of polonium; photoaffinity labelling; transition metal-transition metal quadruple bonds; the kinetics of thermal dehydrogenation; molecular propellors
60 schools present attended the competition and we are proud our students finished in 12th place.
