The Guinness Book of World Records has given its seal of approval to the "largest practical science lesson" conducted by 2,000 school students in Delhi as part of the recently-concluded India International Science Festival (IISF) at IIT.
The confirmation from the Guinness Book came days after the school students bettered the existing world record in the category, set by a group of 1,339 Irish students.
"The largest practical science lesson is 2,000 participants, achieved by Vijnana Bharati (India), in Delhi on December 7, 2015. Participants worked in small teams to complete experiments as part of the lesson that focused on catalysts," the Guinness Book mentioned on its website.
An official announcement regarding the same was made at a press conference at IIT Delhi today.
"The Guinness Record will have a cascading effect on the young scientific community. It will create huge curiosity and affinity among school children towards science," IIT Delhi Director Khsitij Gupta said.
The students had attempted the award-making experiment on December 7 as part of the five-day festival at IIT Delhi. The event was jointly organised by the ministries of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences in collaboration with an NGO Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA) and the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC).
"The entire exercise was meticulously planned and efficiently executed. It was a marvellous experiment in which all the school children carried out the task without any glitch. It will spur and inspire a host of scientific institutions to undertake similar experiments and bring laurels to the country," said Vijay Bhatkar, Vibha's National President.
2,000 school students of class 9 to 12 - 50 each drawn from 40 schools, both government and private - participated in the 65-minute-long programme.
Girish Kumar, senior professor of Chemistry at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) in Kerala conceptualised the experiments and led the team conducting the session.
A major feature of the exercise was "elephant tooth paste experiment" 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.
The other experiment was discolouration of methylene blue by hydrogen peroxide.
Flagging of the experiment, Union Minister Smriti Irani had also said that there are plans to have an even bigger 'practical lesson' in Delhi in the coming months, in which school students from across the country will participate.
