IIT Delhi has scripted Guinness World Record in conducting the largest practical science lesson by assembling 2,000 school students from Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) at the sprawling lawns of Indian Institute of Technology.
- The event was organised by Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA), the country’s largest science movement, as part of the India International Science Festival (IISF) 2015.
- Fifty students of Class 9 to 12 each were drawn from 40 government and private schools to set the Guinness World Record.
About Experiment
Dressed in white lab-coats, students conducted two science practicals in the administrative block of IIT-Delhi.
- Both experiments related to catalysis – a process that makes chemical reactions faster without any additional input of energy and is extensively used in manufacturing some 90% products used in the world today.
- Elephant Tooth Experiment – It was the major feature of the exercise was in which hydrogen peroxide underwent catalytic decomposition in the presence of iodide, resulting in the liberation of a large amount of oxygen and foaming up to resemble a giant toothpaste being squeezed.
- Discolouration experiment – The other experiment was discolouration of methylene blue by hydrogen peroxide.
The participating students were addressed by Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan and Union Human Resources Minister Smriti Irani.
Existing world record
The existing world record of largest practical science lesson before this event is held by a group of 1,339 Irish school students that was conducted at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Ireland on 24th February 2015.
- As per the Guinness Book of Records, 1,339 primary school students of 7th and 8th standard from Belfast participated in a mass chromatography practical.
- It was supported and conducted by The Royal Society of Chemistry, London.