Young Chemists put their practical skills to the test!

On Friday 17 June, Fortian chemists from Years 11 and 12 participated in the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) NSW Schools Titration Competition hosted at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Sydney (USYD). The 24 Fortians were selected to represent the Fort based on their performance at an ‘elimination’ competition held at school earlier in Term Two.

The titration experiment involves a series of acid-base neutralisation reactions, to accurately determine the unknown concentration of a weak acid. The competition required Fortians to use a solution of the strong base sodium hydroxide and standardise it against the hydrochloric acid provided, before using it to determine the concentration of the unknown ethanoic acid. Fortians competed in teams of three and had 90 minutes to complete the titrations.

Whilst waiting for the preliminary results, the Fortians received a short lecture from Associate Professor Toby Hudson about the science course opportunities available at USYD. Following the informative presentation, a RACI Representative announced the results for the 62 teams competing.

Notably, our Fortian team of Jennifer Ma, Luke Sarginson and Gordon Huang from Year 12 were awarded second place on the day. All competitors now await official results from RACI, with top teams receiving an invitation to the prestigious National Titration Competition. Fortian teams have always performed well in this annual competition, frequently receiving Certificates of Excellence and Merit.

A big thank you to Mr Theo Leondios and Mr Amrit Prasad for their time and guidance in training the Fortians with the titration technique. Thank you to Mr Prasad, who accompanied the Fortians on the Competition Day.

Stephanie Banh, Andrew Huang and Peter Tran

Year 12