Rates of Reaction - Chemistry

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Rates of Reaction

The task that we were given was to measure the rates of reaction. I chose to measure it by changing the concentration of the reactant which will enable me to use collect a wide range of data.

Strategy

Our reactants were hydrochloric acid and magnesium whilst our products were hydrogen and salt.

Hydrochloric acid (HCl) + Magnesium (Mg)  Hydrogen (H) + Salt (MgCl)

To achieve the different concentration of hydrochloric acid we used a 2 molar base concentration and then diluted it with water. For example, the 1M acid was 10ml HCl and 10ml H2O. As we were using 2M, we chose to test eight different concentrations, at 0.25 intervals as this would provide us with the necessary range of data and also, with an equal amount between each, it would make it easier for us to draw conclusions.

The method that we used was: we filled up the plastic bowl with water and then also filled a measuring cylinder with water and turned it upside down with its end in the water of the bowl. It was held in place with a clamp stand. We had to ensure that there were no air bubbles in the cylinder or the measurements that we took would be inaccurate because it wouldn’t have begun with zero gas in the cylinder. We placed the end of the tube and bung into the cylinder and measured out the appropriate amount of hydrochloric acid and poured it into a boiling tube. Next, we cut a strip of magnesium down to 2cm long and put it into the boiling tube, placing the bung in immediately and starting the stopwatch.

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We chose to see how long it took to produce 15cm3 of hydrogen because, during our preliminaries, when our original measurement was 20cm3, sometimes not enough hydrogen was produced.

The measuring equipment that we used was chosen for the specific measurements that it could provide – to measure out the water and acid we used a pipette as it could easily remove or add a very small measurement to exactly make up the 20ml that was the total measurement of our acid and water solution. The technique for collecting the gas was reliable. The same person completed the ...

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This is a well written report. It major strength is the quality of the data. There are specific strengths and improvements are suggested throughout.