As a high-minded learned society and professional body, with the patronage of Her Majesty herself, we are duty- and honour-bound to promote chemistry and make it accessible to the public.

So when flooded with queries from the public and RSC staff regarding the efficacy of conkers as a spider repellent, we shook ourselves dry and led the charge on a public scientific endeavour – to prove or dismiss the old wives’ tale that spiders really do hate conkers. For the best evidence (one way or the other) we’re offering a prize of £300.

We hypothesise that if it works there must be some chemistry in it. So the call went out to the public, through the illustrious pages of the Daily Telegraph, The Times and Daily Mail, various radio stations, and BBC Breakfast – and the public have responded with eyewitness accounts, photos, videos and even scientific experiments!

Let’s start with our own experiments. RSC staffer Will Russell cleared his busy schedule to spend part of his weekend taunting spiders with conkers and a control object (a table-tennis ball). The results were somewhat inconclusive – each spider reacted differently. Some good scientific methodology here: repeat experiments, a “control”, and the will to do a science experiment on the weekend.

Even Will’s rigorous experiments could not compare to those of Years 5 and 6 of Roselyon School in Cornwall, aided by teacher Mr Ferguson. The budding young scientists designed their own experiments with clearly-defined parameters for success, and demonstrated three of them on camera. They concluded that spiders weren’t bothered by conkers for the most part. Their video is below and well worth watching.

As I wade through the hundreds of letters and photos I’ve been sent, I’ll add more to the overall body of evidence. Below is a gallery of some of the more enlightening photos that we’ve been sent.