What affects the rate ofreaction?

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What affects the rate of reaction?

The rate of a reaction tells us how quickly a chemical reaction happens. We cannot work out the rate of a reaction from its chemical equation; we have to do an experiment to find this out. In this experiment, we can find out how much of the reactant is used up in a certain time, or how much of the product is used up in a certain time.

calcium carbonate + hydrochloric acid        calcium chloride + water + carbon                     dioxide

Base (Solid) +Acid (Liquid)         Salt + Water + Carbon Dioxide (Gas)

                       REACTANTS                       PRODUCTS

Doing this reaction, I could investigate any of 3 different experiments; the concentration of the acid using water to dilute it, changing the temperature of the acid, or changing the surface area. Changing the surface area will not work, because the different weights of the powder and blocks of marble will make it impossible to measure accurately, therefore it wouldn’t be a fair test. As a result of this, I have decided to investigate different concentrations of the acid, using water to dilute it.

I am going to do this by using this apparatus, shown on diagram; measuring cylinder, flask, bung with attached tubing, tub full of water, 1 gram of marble chips for each experiment and 50 cm³ of dilute hydrochloric acid for each experiment.

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For the concentration experiment, I will dilute the Hydrochloric acid to the appropriate measurement; I will use 11 different concentrations of the acid. After this, I will add the crushed marble (I am going to crush the marble so that the surface area stays the same) before putting the bung into the flask. Then the stopwatch is to be set, and the amount of gas released in 10 seconds is recorded.

To make this a fair test, I am going to do each test for each experiment 3 times, add the 3 results together, and divide them by 3. I ...

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