Mrs Smart (Head of Science)
On Friday 17th June, our Lower Sixth IB cohort were busy experimenting in the labs for their Chemistry Internal Assessment (IA) component of the International Baccalaureate (IB).
The Chemistry IA is an opportunity for students to further investigate a topic that interests them about Chemistry. There is an element of personal engagement and students are able to formulate their own research question. The analysis can be from first-hand experimental data or a meta-analysis of data already published, although most students choose to carry out their own practical work. They then produce a final report which is worth 20% of their final grade. The experience is invaluable for further study and future careers as it builds the skills of project management and submission of reports to deadlines.
This year we have projects looking at how oxalic acid in chocolate milk can reduce calcium absorption; how temperature affects the hardness of water, how different concentrations of alcohol affect the setting of gelatine, how temperature affects tannins in tea and how temperature affects the equilibria of esterification reactions.
Nel Mckenna said: “I am investigating the effect different temperatures have on the tannin concentration in English black tea. My experiment set up makes use of the colorimeter, as a main instrument, to measure the light absorbance of each infused tea solution and known concentrations of tannic acid.
“Firstly, I make up a calibration curve of 5 known concentrations of tannic acid and then experiment by adding tea bags into a conical flask, submerged in 5 different temperatures; then test the light absorbance of the solution without and without iron (III) chloride. The experimental process was enjoyable in seeing the changes and collecting data.”
Hannah Russell added: “Our Chemistry IA day was really useful as it allowed us to carry out the methods we had been working on for our coursework. After a few preliminary experiments, achieving the results we had been hoping for was really exciting!”
