A group of talented Fourth and Remove Form boys recently participated in The Royal Society of Chemistry’s ‘Top of the Bench’ competition, representing Bedford School in the mid-Anglia regional heat. This prestigious competition challenges teams of four students to demonstrate their chemistry knowledge and practical skills through a series of tasks.
The boys faced a practical task where they had to create an iodine clock and predict when it would change colour. This was followed by a team-written task that tested their chemical knowledge. The competition not only assessed their understanding of chemistry but also their ability to work effectively as a team.
The boys performed admirably, securing fourth place with the judges praising their efforts, particularly highlighting their high scores in the practical component. One judge commented, “The boys scored very highly in the practical component. They demonstrated they understood concepts of experimental reproducibility and bias. Their experimental results were excellent, showing a clear trend with little scatter.”
The Top of the Bench competition is one of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s longest-standing activities for school children, running for over 20 years. It aims to fuel curiosity and excitement about chemistry, encouraging students to consider further education and careers in the field. Each year, teams of four 13 to 16-year-old pupils compete in regional heats, which typically take place in the autumn term. The winners of these heats then advance to the UK final held in the spring.
Fourth Former Felix Qualtrough, one of the boys competing, shared his experience, “What I enjoyed most about competing was working together in our group and dividing the jobs between ourselves so that we were efficient and could therefore complete the reaction in the time limit. I also enjoyed watching the reaction take place and learning the chemistry behind the iodine clocks. What I learned was how an iodine clock works, and how the chemical reaction creates the change in colour. I also learned about how the concentration of the chemicals could alter the speed of the reaction, therefore changing the amount of time it takes to change colour.”
Remove Former, Kieran Kelly, also on the team explained, “I enjoyed the anticipation behind how close our time for our solution to change colour was going to be to 55 seconds. This was part of the iodine clock experiment, and we ended up recording 50 seconds. I learnt about the iodine clock experiment. It involves reactions with hydrogen peroxide, potassium iodide, sodium thiosulfate, and starch – eventually leaving just iodine and starch which forms a blue-black solution. This was an experiment I had never heard of. I also learnt about catalytic converters, which significantly reduce a car’s emissions. It was one of the words that we weren’t able to get in the crossword that we had to complete.”
The boys’ performance in the competition is a testament to their hard work, teamwork and passion for chemistry. We are incredibly proud of their achievements and look forward to seeing them continue to excel in their studies and future competitions.
