The reaction between Calcium carbonate and Hydrochloric acid.

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Year 10 chemistry coursework

The reaction between Calcium carbonate and Hydrochloric acid

Introduction

There are six things that affect the reaction between calcium carbonate and hydrochloric acid. They are:

  • The temperatures of the acid
  • The amount of acid
  • The concentration of the acid
  • The surface area of the calcium carbonate
  • The amount of calcium carbonate
  • The form of calcium carbonate. (It is available in three forms: powder, small stones or large stones)

I have decided to investigate how the concentration of the hydrochloric acid affects the reaction rate between them.

What I will need/Equipment list

  • Large marble (calcium carbonate) chips
  • Hydrochloric acid (2molar)
  • Water bath
  • Measuring cylinder
  • Beaker with bung and gas tube
  • Stopwatch
  • H2O
  • Scales

Preliminary Experiment

To see what happens between calcium carbonate and hydrochloric acid when they react together I shall carry out some preliminary experiments

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

I shall conduct my preliminary experiments at five different concentrations.

Preliminary results

Diagram

Below is a labelled diagram of the experiment

Background knowledge

Key Variables

  • Surface area of solid – The surface area has an effect on the rate of reaction. If the solid has a small surface area then there will be   less area for the liquid to collide with the solid. Collision can only occur with the outer atoms so if the surface area if big then there will be more atoms to react with meaning the rate of reaction will be increased and the reaction will take less time to complete.

  • Temperature of the reaction - When the temperature is low, the particles in the reaction do not have much energy as they would if the temperature was high so collision is less likely to occur. When particles are heated they take in energy causing them to move faster and collide more often. When the temperature doubles, the rate of the reaction roughly doubles. Because the collisions have more energy they are more likely to be successful in reacting. Therefore the rate of the reaction will increase.
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  • Concentration of the reactants -The more concentrated the solvent, the more particles are present and the greater the chance of a collision taking place. In diluted acids, they are fewer particles so the chance of collisions occurring is reduced meaning it will take more time for a reaction to take place. Therefore if concentration is increased, the reaction rate also increases. Amount of the reactants -It is important to keep the amount of reactants constant in the experiment because as the reactant is used up, so the reaction is slowed down. For instance if you use 50ml in the ...

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