- Level: International Baccalaureate
- Subject: Chemistry
- Word count: 2137
THE CATALYTIC DECOMPOSITION OF HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
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Introduction
Chemistry Internal Assessment: THE CATALYTIC DECOMPOSITION OF HYDROGEN PEROXIDE Introduction: For this internal assessment, I will be looking into the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. I will be conducting an experiment to show how the mass of catalyst used affects the rate at which hydrogen peroxide decomposes. My research question will be, "How does the mass of Manganese (V) Oxide used affect the rate of decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. A catalyst is a substance which alters the rate of a chemical reaction but is chemically unchanged at the end of the reaction. This means that the amount of catalyst at the start and the end of the reaction will remain constant. Catalysts alter the rate of a chemical reaction and this is the reason why I have chosen to conduct an experiment to find out to what extent a catalyst could affect the rate of a chemical reaction. Aim: To investigate how the mass of catalyst (manganese (V) oxide) used affects the speed of decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, H2O2. Hypothesis: My hypothesis for this experiment is that the more catalyst I used, the faster the decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide. ...read more.
Middle
oxide: 0.05/3 X 100% = 1.67% 2/46.7 X 100% = 4.3% 1.67% + 4.3% =5.97% = 6% Calculating the uncertainties for the test using 4 g of manganese (V) oxide: 0.05/4 X 100% = 1.25% 2/43.30 X 100% = 4.6% 1.25% + 4.6% = 5.85% = 5.9% Calculating the uncertainties for the test using 5 g of manganese (V) oxide: 0.05/5 X 100% = 1% 2/42.6 X 100% = 4.7% 1% + 4.7% = 5.7% Table of Uncertainties: Experiment with Variable (g) % Uncertainties for mass of manganese (V) oxide % Uncertainties for Time taken for the reaction to stop Total Uncertainties (Found by adding the two uncertainties) 1 5% 3.3% 8.3% 2 2.5% 3.9% 6.4% 3 1.67% 4.3% 6% 4 1.25% 4.6% 5.9% 5 1% 4.7% 5.7% Graph of Mass of Manganese (V) Oxide used against Average Time Taken for Reaction to Stop(S): Comments on the Graph: As predicted in my hypothesis, the more manganese (V) oxide I used, the faster the rate of decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide. There would also be a point where anymore catalyst added would not make the reaction go any faster and this happens between 4-5 grams of catalyst added and onwards. ...read more.
Conclusion
oxide used. Another flaw is that I used very little hydrogen peroxide (10cm3). This is a very minute amount and this could also mean that the amount of catalyst needed to totally overcome activation energy is much less and thus I cannot conclude exactly what value of catalyst would cause a peak in the rate of decomposition. A solution for this is to use various values of hydrogen peroxide and find the average mass of catalyst added relative to volume of hydrogen peroxide used and I could then come up with a general equation to find the peak decomposition rates for specific volumes. The last flaw in my experiment, which I briefly mentioned in the conclusion, is the fact that I did not use enough variables for the mass of manganese (V) oxide. I only used values of 1 gram - 5 grams and thus I could not ascertain results for variables where the mass is more than that of 5 grams. Had I expanded my range from 5 grams to 10 grams, I could have a wider range of data and even might be able to achieve the perfectly straight line in my graph which I hypothesised. Thus, I can say that this experiment has many flaws and could be improved in many areas especially in data recording. ...read more.
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