STEM students visited a laboratory at the University of Manchester to gain an in-depth understanding of modern analytical techniques.

Jaycen Ledgerton-Cooper, Olivia Lester, Sophie Flemming, Sophia Strashnova and Kei Nam Chan met Dr Ilya Strashnov, Faculty Lead for Elemental and Physical Characterisation, during the inspiring visit.

As part of their A-Level Chemistry, students synthesise ethyl ethanoate and aspirin.

Students went to the university to use their advanced instrumentation to analyse their samples to confirm they have synthesised the correct chemical and to determine the percentage purity of their product, using techniques such as FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared) Spectroscopy) and GC-MS (Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry).

Students also saw how water samples are analysed by ICP-AES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy) to determine the concentration of minerals in various samples of water.

Cambridge Chemistry Challenge success

Priestley students recently took part in a Cambridge Chemistry Challenge achieving the following outstanding outcomes:

Owen Leung            Gold

Faye Capper             Gold

Jamie Holmes          Silver

Blake Barnes             Silver

Alfie Allen                  Copper

Eleanor Pearce          Copper

Sophie Flemming      Copper

• 2 golds – in the top 1,512 out of 14,744 (top 10.3%)
• 2 silvers – in the top 4,801 (top 32.6%)
• 3 coppers – in the top 8,969 (top 60.8%)