Prediction
My prediction is that I think that the Zinc will react quite quickly with the Copper Sulphate. It will make the temperature rise and turn into a colourless solution; the temperature will rise by about 20°.
There will be no things to make the test unfair, I will make sure the same cup is used each time, the amount of Copper Sulphate stays the same (40 ml) and the amount of Zinc is correct each time.
Safety
For safety during the experiment I will make sure that I will wear goggles so I have eye protection.
I will make sure the solution does not get poured down the sink because it kills bacteria that the sewage workers produce.
Also I will make sure the laboratory rules are followed accurately.
Analysis
I’ve analysed my results and the shape of the graph is steadily inclining except for the one anomalous result.
The result depended on four things the temperature, catalyst, concentration and size of particles.
The temperature was slowly rising until the zinc stopped reacting. The catalyst (zinc) made the reaction happen easier so the activation was lowered.
The anomalous result had a few explanations for why it was lower than the others.
Conclusion
I have learned that the experiment was exothermic and the rate of reaction with zinc and copper sulphate. Also that zinc it higher in the reactivity series than copper that’s why there was a reaction otherwise there would not have been no reaction at all. The zinc acted as a catalyst in the reaction by speeding up the reaction so it was less activation.
Evaluation
The method I used in this experiment was displacement, were the copper sulphate and zinc reacted to produce zinc sulphate plus copper, so the more reactive metal (zinc) displaced the less reactive one (copper).
During the experiment I have found out that the experiment I carried out was similar to my prediction that made except for one anomalous result.
The average temperature raise was 19.5 and my prediction was 20. It probably would have been higher if the anomalous result was higher that 13.
The only reasons for the anomalous result was either because I didn’t let the temperature drop from the previous experiment or I didn’t let it go to its maximum temperature before ending the experiment.
So my prediction was nearly all correct except one result that made the average lower and the line of best fit on the graph decrease.
