Cambridge Chemistry Challenge 2024

Congratulations to our senior pupils who were recently awarded for their participation in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge last session.

With over 10,000 entries from a record number of students across the UK, as well as some international entries from China, Thailand and Singapore, our pupils performed exceptionally well.

Award Winners

• Gold: Maryam
• Silver: Ailsa, Siri, Maya and Christian Burns (C2024)
• Copper: Anna, lsla, Suzana, Daisy, Ali

Maryam’s Gold award places her in the top 10% of competing students, which is an incredible achievement.

The competition takes the form of a 90-minute written paper set by an experienced team of teachers and university chemists, and takes pupils significantly beyond the syllabus, encouraging them to think about science in the way they would at university. (Source c316)

This year’s paper was no exception, with another extraordinary paper that sought to challenge our top pupils. One question highlighted the chemistry of the element arsenic, particularly the commercial compound arsenic trioxide. Interestingly, whilst less than 0.1g of the compound can be fatal, it is used as a medicine to treat cancer.

Another question highlighted perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS). These are substances in which every hydrogen in an alkane has been replaced by a fluorine atom. PFAS are useful since they have excellent water-repelling and non-stick properties. This has led to their widespread use in many commercial products for example Gortex™. As a result of their resistance to degradation PFAS easily bioaccumulate and have been detected in drinking water.

 Chemistry Teacher, Dr Smith said,

“The questions were interesting and highly challenging, and our pupils were outstanding. I am immensely proud of their achievements, which highlights their performance and dedication to Chemistry.”

Well done to all pupils who took part in this challenge.