Investigating how the temperature affects the rate of reaction between Magnesium and Hydrochloric acid.

     When I change the input variable I think that every 10 degrees the temperature increases, the time it will take for the magnesium to react, will almost half its original time. I think this will happen because the higher the temperature of the water more molecules move about to cause the magnesium react.

The equipment I used to carry out my investigation were;

• 2 2cm magnesium strips
• 2 boiling tubes
• 1 test tube holder
• 1 stop clock
• 1 thermometer
• 1 bottle of hydrochloric acid

Diagram of the equipment

My results

My graph of my completed result table

There is a pattern to the graph. As the temperature gets higher the time for the magnesium to react gets lower. For some temperatures there wasn’t a massive gap between the previous temperature but on some there was.

     

     My results resembled my prediction. The higher the temperature was the less time it took for the magnesium to react. I think I repeated my investigation enough times to get a sufficient average. I carried them out 3 times for each temperature. I increased the temperature by 10 degrees after each turn. I think that my result show a slight trend. It does very sometimes but it don’t vary that much.

Plan

Firstly I had to fill in the front page of my investigation sheet. The prediction and what I am trying to find out. After I filled it In I collected all my apparatus and started to set up my investigation. We worked in groups of three. Once my apparatus were all set up we started our task. Firstly we put Hydrochloric acid into a boiling tube and we went to heat it up in a water bath. We heated it up until the temperature of the Hydrochloric acid got to the temperature we wanted it to be. We then got a piece of magnesium ribbon and placed it into the acid and timed how long it took for it to react. Once it stopped reacting we recorded that time and did it another three times for it to be a fair test and to work out an average. We increased the temperature every 10 degrees. After we completed our results we and to put them into a table and graphed them.