“Spolana has been running this competition for the fourth year, and it has already become a tradition. Despite the Covid-19 restrictions, we had attracted 12 teams, each having three members, from 11 schools this year,” Piotr Kearney, Spolana’s Executive Director, summarises the contest optimistically. Three teams advanced to the final round held at Gymnázium Václava Třebízského in Slaný. “Chemistry is an important discipline, yet it can also be exciting and a lot of fun. Therefore, we hope we can get children enthusiastic about this field. Of course, we would be happy if some of the contestants once become students at our school,” says Milan Dundr, principal of the upper-secondary school in Slaný.

The winning team, Trojka, came from the Third Primary School in Neratovice. Its members received tablets and other prizes. Their school received an award, too, a gift voucher for chemical lab equipment worth CZK 10,000. “This competition is a lot of fun, but it is also didactic. We already have plans to enter the fifth year next year. We will use the money to buy chemical lab equipment, especially didactic aids that will help children better grasp the chemistry syllabus,” says Irena Škantová, a teacher of the triumphant team from Neratovice.

The first assignment of the final competition involved a quiz with 17 questions across the entire chemistry spectrum. It also included object demonstrations, i.e., plays with liquid nitrogen, a magnet, which fell through a frozen copper pipe at -196 degrees Celsius, and with paper ships and sodium. “The children were also to determine properties (e.g. flammability, evaporation, oxidation ability, …) of unknown hazardous substances by using the SOUL method,” comments Tomáš Holec, Head of the Citizen Protection and Crisis Management Department of the Fire Rescue Service of the Central Bohemian Region. The students also had to pass practical tests in the Slaný school laboratory: coating a metal strip with zinc, annealing when an alloy (brass) was supposed to emerge on the strip’s surface. Besides, the students had to explain all these phenomena.  

Contest description

The first online round was launched in April 2021. The attending teams were tasked to carry out an assigned chemical experiment with electrolysis. First, they had to determine the nature of blue vitriol (copper(II) sulphate pentahydrate) in the experiment. They recorded their results and uploaded their video recording on the competition’s website. Also, they completed a knowledge test, all of this in 30 days. The three best teams advanced to the second final round held on 17 June. The final assignments focused on quick-wittedness and general knowledge of chemistry and safety when handling chemical substances. They also involved chemical experiments in the lab. For more information, go to www.vyzvaprochemika.cz.

Contact details: Pavel Kaidl, spokesperson, telephone: +420 736 502 520, e-mail: pavel.kaidl@unipetrol.cz