01. Chemistry Research

Coordinators: Prof. Trevor Del Castillo 

Important: All documents and files for your experiment must be submitted by April 17th 2026! 

Objectives and Background: 

Human activities have profoundly altered the chemistry of natural water systems. Nutrient runoff, acidification, metal contamination, and changes in dissolved species all influence water quality in rivers, lakes, groundwater, and drinking water supplies. Many of these impacts are not directly visible, but they can sometimes be detected through changes in color, light absorption, or optical properties of water samples. 

Colorimetric analysis is a powerful approach for probing aqueous chemistry. By using chemical indicators, test reagents, or naturally occurring color changes, scientists can infer properties such as pH, ion concentration, oxidant levels, or the presence of pollutants. Combined with modern smartphones, digital imaging and data-analysis tools (including emerging artificial intelligence approaches) can enhance colorimetric measurements by converting color information into quantitative data, identifying trends, and assisting in the interpretation of complex datasets. 

In this event, teams will design and conduct an original research project related to human impact on the aqueous environment, using colorimetric methods as a central analytical tool. Teams will investigate a water-related question of their choosing, collect and analyze data in advance of the Olympiad, and present their findings to a panel of judges. 

Teams will be asked to 

Part 1: Conduct literature research to address the following and to aid in developing an experimental strategy. 

One or more aspects of how human activity impacts the aqueous environment. The following sections should be framed around this selected impact. 

Principles of colorimetric analysis,  

What is it and why is it useful?  

What are its limitations?  

What types of properties can be studied using color changes or light absorption? 

Modern data collection and analysis  

How can digital images such as those from phone cameras be used to analyze color quantitatively? 

What tools, software, or AI-based approaches could assist with image processing, calibration, or data interpretation? 

Part 2: Conduct original research. Design and conduct experiments related to an aspect of human impact on the aqueous environment, using colorimetric methods as a central analytical tool and create a short video of your experiment. Color changes may arise from added indicators, test reagents, reactions occurring in solution, or inherent properties of the sample. Teams are encouraged (but not required) to use smartphone cameras to record color data, develop calibration curves or comparative analyses, and explore digital image analysis or AI-assisted data processing. The video should be under 10 minutes and be of high enough quality to be posted on YouTube for others to view in the future. 

Part 3: Create a written report of what you learned in parts 1 and 2. The report will be submitted in advance of the event day. 

• Introduction, summarizing learnings from part 1 as they relate to your original research efforts. 

• Describe the experimental setup and procedures you ran. Diagrams may be useful here. Discuss how you obtained and processed samples (indicators, reagents, etc.) as well as how data was collected (including any imaging methods). 

• Show and analyze your results. Tables, figures or images may be useful here. Describe how your findings differed between different samples. Discuss challenges, uncertainty, limitations and sources of error. 

• Draw conclusions from your research and contextualize your results. How could your method be improved, expanded, or applied in real-world water quality monitoring? 

• Include a link to your video on YouTube in the report. 

Part 4: Present your research on the event day. 

Event Day: 

Teams will make a short presentation via PowerPoint slides or poster. Presentations will be scheduled for the morning of the Chemistry Olympics (6 minutes maximum: 3 minute prepared presentation + 3 minutes Q&A). The presentations will be followed by a question and answer (Q&A) session with the judges. Specific laboratory data collected should be presented to the judges in a graphical or pictorial manner. The provided data should strongly support any experimentation-based conclusions.