An Investigation Into The Effect Of Varying The Acid Concentration On The Rate Of Reaction Between Hydrochloric Acid And Marble Chips.

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An Investigation Into The Effect Of Varying The Acid Concentration On The Rate Of Reaction Between Hydrochloric Acid And Marble Chips

I am investigating how the concentration of hydrochloric acid will effect the rate of reaction when calcium carbonate (marble chips) are added to the acid.

Hydrochloric acid + calcium carbonate    Calcium chloride + Water + Carbon

Dioxide

To measure the rate of reaction I could

  • Time how long it takes for the Ca CO3 to dissolve
  • Time how long it takes for the fizzing in the system to finish
  • Time how long it takes to collect a specific volume of CO2
  • Time how long it takes for a loss of a specific mass to take place.

The factors that could affect the rate of this reaction are, temperature in which the reaction takes place, concentration of the acid, surface area of calcium carbonate, using a catalyst.  The variables are all of the factors affecting the rate of reaction.  I will keep all of the variables the same apart from the concentration of the acid.  Reactions happen when particles collide together with enough energy to form a bond, therefore the more collisions the more chances of bonds being made.  This is the collision theory.  As the concentration of the acid increases there are more particles for the calcium carbonate to react with in the same amount of volume, as the surface area increases there is more area for the acid to react with, as the temperature increases the particles are charged with more heat energy which is then transferred into kinetic energy, this means that the acid particles would be moving around more, this makes the chances of a collision much more likely, as the particles are moving faster this gives them a greater chance of a collision.

I plan to vary the concentration of the acid.  I will use acids of concentrations of; 0.25m, 0.5m, 0.75m, 1.0m, 1.25m, 1.5m .  I will keep the same all of the factors/variables except for the concentration of the acid.  I will make sure all other factors are kept the same, to make sure the temperature of the acid constant I will measure the temperature of the acid each time I start an experiment.  This will make the investigation fair and the chances of anomalous result are smaller.  I will measure and observe the amount of time it takes to collect 100cm³ of CO2.  

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I will measure the quantities of Ca CO3 using a balance.  This would be much more accurate than adding the same number of spatulas each time. Also I will use a measuring cylinder to measure the HCl; this is more accurate than a beaker, as beakers do not have as many ‘measure lines’ as a measuring cylinder.

Prediction

I predict that as the concentration of the acid increases the amount of time it takes to collect 100cm³ of CO2 will decrease.  This is because of the collision theory.  As there will be more acid particles in the ...

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