Titration Competition 2023
Shore Hosts The Annual Titration Competition
J. T. Mott
ON SATURDAY THE 17TH OF JUNE, SHORE HOSTED THE ANNUAL TITRATION COMPETITION, WITH LORETO KIRRIBILLI AND NORTH SYDNEY BOY’S HIGH COMING TO COMPETE WITH OTHER SCHOOLS COMPETING ACROSS THE STATE. Titration is the slow addition of one solution of a known concentration (called a titrant) to a known volume of another solution of unknown concentration until the reaction reaches neutralisation, represented by the liquid turning a slight pink. In the competition, students work in teams of three, using a known acid concentration to work out the concentration of a base, and from there, using the base to work out the concentration of three different acids. Shore put on a strong show with four teams achieving a Certificate of Excellence and two others getting a Merit.
These teams will use the ‘ice cream equation’, c=n/v (concentration = number of moles/volume), as Ms Whiteman calls it, to work out the concentration of the base and then again for the acid. The process of titration requires fine motor skills and experience to be accurate with even one drop being enough to pass the end point and make that titration inaccurate.
The scoring system in titration works by working out the error, the scoring system starts at 3,000 and goes down the more accurate you are. Every team with a combined score of less than 100 gets a Certificate of Excellence and below 200 for a Certificate of Merit. Shore had eight teams competing in the competition:
| Team | Student 1 | Student 2 | Student 3 |
| 1 | Byron Evans | Oscar Everett | Tom Lyons |
| 2 | George Chen | Angus Holliday | Alex Gilchrist |
| 3 | John Ku | Ethan Tan | Pat Zhang |
| 4 | Jack Mott | Nick Higgs | Phil Greenwood |
| 5 | Simon Awad | Jock Fenwicke | Adam Watson |
| 6 | Brendan Chow | Charlie Corbett | Louis Cathles |
| 7 | Daniel Kang | James Ku | Ramon Zhang |
| 8 | Alan Li | Matt George | Max Lim |
Shore had a dominant performance that matched last year with team 6 securing 1st, Team four placing 3rd and Team one coming in 4th position and a team from North Sydney Boys High coming in 2nd.
The top teams from Shore’s scores were:
| Team | Score |
| 6 | 35 |
| 4 | 66 |
| 1 | 74 |
| 3 | 92 |
The top 30 teams out of the 1,200 students that enter from across the state, then progress into State Competition and then onto National Competition. Last year our winners made it to Nationals, and this year it may be tough, but I have full belief that we can do it again. We will find out who progressed by Week 1 next Term as the New South Wales branch of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RAIC) process the results and work out which teams will progress.
