Dozens of diligent high school students gathered at CQUniversity campuses this week (Aug 27) to seek the most accurate analysis of 2 chemical solutions.

They bonded with team mates and competitors from other schools, striving to top their region and perhaps even the nation.

LINK to RESULTS

Dr Vicky Vicente-Beckett (with trophy) and competitors (clockwise from rear left) Taylor Wass (TCC), Casey Graves (GHS), Michaela Newell (RGGS), Krissy McNaught (RGS) and Jessica Ewings (RHS)

The annual Royal Australian Chemical Institute CQ Regional Schools Titration Competition  is hosted and coordinated by CQUniversity.

There were 12 schools (2 teams per school) participating: at Rockhampton Campus - 6 high schools; at Bundaberg Campus - 3 schools, and at Gladstone Campus -  2 schools (a 3rd school, Tannum Sands SHS, is conducting the competition at the school).

This is the 20th year of the CQ regional competition.

Titrations are all about good volumetric skills and precision in measuring, separating and analysing constituent chemicals in unknown samples.

The competition involves the performance of 2 chemical titrations: the standardisation of the concentration of a strong base (sodium hydroxide) and  the determination of the concentration of an unknown weak acid (acetic acid).

Students must be trained carefully to develop the skills needed to handle precise volumetric apparatus (i.e. pipette and burette) and deliver the correct volumes for the reaction.

This analytical skill is very important in for analysts working in industrial, chemical and clinical laboratories.