An Investigation Into The Factors Affecting The Corrosion Of Limestone By Acid

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An Investigation Into The Factors Affecting The Corrosion Of Limestone By Acid

Introduction

I am going to do an investigation into the factors affecting corrosion of Limestone.

The factors, which you could change, are: -

  • Temperature
  • Mass
  • Concentration of acid
  • Surface area
  • And catalysts

The speed or rate of a chemical reaction is: -

  • How fast the products are being made
  • How fast the reactants are being used up

It increases when: -

The Temperature Increases

This is because at low temperatures, particles of reacting substances do not have much energy. However, when the substances are heated, the particles take in energy. This causes them to move faster, and so collide more often (which has to occur, for the reaction to take place) the collisions have more energy (an activation energy) so more are successful.

So the rate of reaction increases.

Surface area and mass

The greater the surface area, and the smaller the mass, the more chance of collisions occurring. So the faster rate of reaction.

 

Catalysts

“Catalysts work by providing an alternative pathway for a reaction to occur with a lower activation energy” (Letts chemistry revision notes) this means that a catalyst increases the rate of a reaction but is not used up by it. It is used over and over again to speed up the conversion of reactants to products.

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I will be looking at the concentration of acid (hydrochloric) and seeing what effect it has on the speed of a reaction of calcium carbonate (limestone)

CaCO3 + 2HCL                          CaCI2 + CO2 + H2O

You can tell a reaction is taking place as gas is given off.

Prediction

With this knowledge, I predict that the higher the concentration of acid, the faster the reaction, (as there are more particles to collide with).

I have thought, that perhaps there is a relationship between the time it ...

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