Testing the effect of surface area on the speed of reaction between calcium carbonate and hydrochloric acid.

I am going to change the surface area of the Calcium Carbonate as indicated in the title.

        I intend to keep the mass of Calcium Carbonate constant every time. However, I will break it into small pieces and use some Calcium Carbonate powder so the surface area is different but the mass of the Calcium Carbonate is the same.

Beaker (100 ml) x3

Safety Goggles

Stopwatch

Spatula x3

Tongs

Hydrochloric Acid-

        30 ml ~ 3x10 ml

Calcium Carbonate-

        1g ~ Powder

        1g ~ Big Pieces

        1g ~ Small Pieces

 

1. Place the beaker on a clean surface and add 10 ml of Hydrochloric Acid.

2. Drop the Calcium Carbonate (1g in big pieces) and start the stopwatch.

3. Watch the reaction, when the Calcium Carbonate has totally reacted with Hydrochloric Acid and no solid can be seen stop the stopwatch.

4. Record the results in a table.

           

5. Repeat instructions 1-4 twice again but this time instead of using 1g of big pieces of Calcium Carbonate use 1g of small pieces and then 1g of powder.

6. Repeat the experiment thrice to get an average time.

 

7. Wash away all equipment once finished all 9 experiments.

1. Wear safety goggles throughout the experiment to protect your eyes.

   2. Make sure you handle the Calcium Carbonate and Hydrochloric Acid with care, keeping them away from your eyes and try not to sniff them.

         3. Use a spatula to pick up the CaCO3 and to add it or to take it away from the solution if there are any problems.

Overall, the results show us that the particles of the big pieces of the calcium carbonate took longer to collide with particles of the hydrochloric acid whilst the particles of the calcium carbonate powder reacted with the particles of the hydrochloric acid much quicker. This as I predicted was because the surface area of the powder was much bigger than that of the big pieces.

         From the result table I can work out an average of the three columns, using the three runs, powder, big pieces, and small pieces:

At first, I had an experiment in which I was going to measure the amount of carbon dioxide given off in this reaction but then due to the restricted amount of time we were given I had to alter it to the one I have written above. This too I did not finish in time therefore I obtained the results from the teacher.

I do not think my results are anomalous because all my results are in a way I predicted they would be.

If I was to do this experiment again I would work faster so I could get the results myself rather then of someone else.