Rate of Reaction Factors Practical

Carbon dioxide collects in the syringe

Hydrochloric acid and calcium carbonate react in the beaker

Different factors can be varied in order to investigate their effect on the rate of reaction:

Surface area to volume ratio:

By repeating with marble chips and then calcium carbonate powder

Temperature:

By repeating with HCl at different temperatures

Concentration:

By repeating with concentrated and then dilute hydrochloric acid

Volume of gas collected is a measure of how much reaction has progressed

Measure the volume in syringe at several different times after the beginning of experiment

Plot Volume against Time

Only change one variable at a time

Start the timer as soon as the calcium carbonate is dropeed into the hydrochloric acid

The gradient of the volume vs time graph is the rate of reaction

If the gradient is steeper, the rate is faster

The gradient can be calculated by drawing a tangent to the curve at any point

To investigate the effect that catalysts can have on the rate of reaction:

Same experimental set-up but replace HCl and marble chips with hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide decomposes naturally to hydrogen and oxygen but the rate of reaction can be increased using catalysts

Repeat the experiment using various catalysts such as manganese oxide, lead oxide, liver