Top of the Bench Competition 2013/14

The North Staffordshire Regional final of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Top of the Bench competition for high school students took place at Keele University on Saturday 18th of January. The first round was a tough written challenge devised by members of the RSC local section and resulted in eight schools being invited to Keele University for the regional final. Eight teams from six schools completed a written test on the chemistry of space, followed by a laboratory challenge to produce a rainbow in a test tube using only sugar, water and food dye.

Hard at work in the laboratory

The competition featured on BBC Radio Stoke on Saturday morning and the participants managed a loud cheer for the radio, despite being in the final ten minutes of the laboratory challenge. One team from Adams’ Grammar School came first with an excellent performance in both challenges, closely followed by Denstone College and St. Peter’s Academy.

The winning team with the Local Section Trophy

A special mention should also go to the team from St Peter’s Academy, Stoke as they were the only team to successfully complete the practical challenge of producing a fully coloured, correctly ordered density rainbow in a test tube. Judges from Keele and the RSC were very impressed with the level of enthusiasm and determination shown by all teams. The winners will go compete against 35 other teams in the national final in April at Loughborough University. of January.