A maximum of three members of each team (Level I or Level II) may participate in each event.
* Avogadro's Tiebreaker
Advance Preparation: None.
The Event:
All materials except calculators and writing instruments will be provided. The team will solve a chemical problem using a nonprogrammable calculator and possibly one or more of the following: ruler; periodic table; buret, pipet, balance, graduated cylinder, and similar apparatus. The team will turn in its calculations as well as its final answer and both will be used to determine the winner. This event will be used as a tie breaker only in case of a tie. It is very important to enter this event, because a team that does not will forfeit any tie.
Look here for an example of tiebreaker questions used in the past.
Concurrent events are Chemysterie (Level I) and Make My [Fara]day (Level II).
Chemysterie
The identity of between six and eight unknown solutions, each containing one substance dissolved in water, is determined.
Advance Preparation: The team should practice making the necessary observations.
The Event:
Each team will receive between six and eight coded plastic pipets, each containing several milliliters of an aqueous solution of a single unknown substance. Each pipet will contain a different solution. The team will have a maximum of thirty minutes to make observations on the individual solutions, and on drops mixed in pairs, in order to identify the substances. No substances other than the solutions in the pipets may be used.
The possible substances are: HCl, HNO3, H2SO4, NaOH, NH3, and soluble salts containing Ag+, Al3+, Ba2+, Co2+, CO32-, Cu2+, Fe3+, I-, Ni2+, and Pb2+. All salt solutions will be 0.1 molar; NaOH (if present) will be 6 M; NH3, HCl, and H2SO4 (if present) will be 3 molar.
The team will learn at the event which 6-8 substances are actually present. A transparent plastic sheet printed with an 8 x 8 matrix will be provided on which drops of solution should be mixed in pairs. The team must carry out all tests on the plastic sheet provided. Testing the solutions by touching is not allowed.
While the team may take the full thirty minutes, both speed and accuracy count: the results are scored as the square of the number of correct identifications divided by the time to the nearest minute, plus the number of correct identifications. For instance, a team that reports 6 correct answers in 25 minutes will have a score of (62/25) + 6 = (36/25) + 6 = 7.4. The team with the highest score will be declared the winner.
Brought by the team:
- goggles, aprons, shoes without open spaces
- pen or pencil
- marking pen for the transparency sheet (optional)
- notes on procedures are not allowed
Provided by Chemathon:
- unknown solutions
- transparency sheet printed with 8 x 8 matrix
- white paper for background
- paper towels
Concurrent events are Avogadro's Tiebreaker (Level I) and LeChatelier's Lunacy (Level II)