Chemistry Rate of Reaction Coursework for Calcium Carbonate and Hydrochloric Acid

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Investing Rate of Reaction

I am going to investigate the rate of reaction between two substances: calcium carbonate and hydrochloric acid.
Rate of reaction measures the speed at which a reaction takes place. This is measured by;
rate of reaction =    
amount of reactant used or amount of product formed
                                                                     time taken 

As seen above, there are two ways to measure a rate of reaction ;
1) measure the rate at which the reactant is used up,
2) measure the rate at which the product is formed


Different reactions can happen at different rates. Reactions that happen slowly have a low rate of reaction. Reactions that happen quickly have a high rate of reaction. For example, rusting has a low rate of reaction. Explosions have a high rate of reaction. A reaction must be at a convenient speed to measure, because a fast rate of reaction can be hazardous, and a very slow rate of reaction is not practical.

The Equation for the Reaction

Calcium carbonate + Hydrochloric acid                      Water + Carbon dioxide + Calcium chloride     

    REACTANTS                               PRODUCTS

CaCO3  +  2HCL                        H2O  +  CO2  +  CaCl2 
(s)              (aq)                        (l)          (g)         (aq)  

How to measure the rate of reaction

Using a gas syringe



This method measures the gas product of the reactants. The gas syringe has marks along its length
which allow the volume of collected gas to be measured.
The increase in volume can be timed, and a graph of volume against time can be plotted.
This shows the
 of the reaction.

Equipment: a gas syringe, rubber bung, conical flask, stand, clamp, 25ml hydrochloric acid, 2g medium sized calcium carbonate pieces, and a stopwatch.

Method; 
1) The gas syringe should be set up horizontally by an attachment to the stand, by the clamp. The tubing should be positioned well on the rear end of the gas syringe.

2) Place calcium carbonate in conical flask, and quickly pour in hydrochloric acid. The rubber bung should be placed extremely fast after this process, as well as the starting of the timer. The gas molecule products produced from the reactants in the flask are transferred from the flask to the gas syringe by the tubing by the movement of gas. The gas products are carbon dioxide and calcium chloride.  

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The pressure in the gas syringe is built up because of the air-quality of the gas syringe, where it is air tight. This pressure is realised by a push forced onto the plunge inside of the gas syringe, which shows the exact ml of product produced to be visible by the scale of measurements on the outside of the gas syringe.

Reliability

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This method of measurement in products is extremely easy to measure and set up. It’s also very easy to reset, and is pretty advanced compared to some other methods, like for example timing and observation, where the ...

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This is a well written and researched piece of investigation. It is supported by clear figures that add to the textual information provided. It is two stars as it only covers the initial research into the appropriate method. This could not be submitted as it is incomplete.