An Investigation of the weathering of limestone.

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An Investigation of the weathering of limestone.

Purpose of experiment: To investigate if the concentration of acid affects the rate of reaction of the weathering of limestone.

Plan: We will situate hydrochloric acid with limestone (calcium carbonate) and we will adjust the concentration of the acid to determine if the dilution of the acid affects the speed of the reaction of the weathering of the limestone.

Pre trial run: In the pre trial run we did a quick experiment to see if there were any problems that we needed to solve. We discovered that the dilute acid was going incredible slowly and we would not have enough time to do the experiment a number of times so we could get a good average in our final results. We established that if we constantly swirled the conical flask that the rate of the reaction would be much faster. We will do this in our concluding experiment but for all the different concentrations of acid. We also uncovered that we need to measure in seconds and not minutes and seconds as to make the results easier to understand and to comprehend the rate of reaction. I found the pre trial run essential to the experiment, as we could find out the measurements we will use, and to deliberate with another group so we can set our results together so we can be able to get a enhanced average, which will lead to a more precise rate of reaction. I will explain our measurements in a later paragraph.

Safety: In the experiment I will be as safe as possible. I will tie back my hair to keep it from falling into the experiment, wear my overall to protect my clothes from the acid and wear goggles over my eyes to protect them, also from the dangerous acid. I will make sure that stools and bags are carefully stowed away so that we do not trip over them. I will also make sure that the experiment is in the centre of the table so nothing will be able to easily get broken or fall on my toes! I hopefully will not get acid on my skin but if I did I would wash it off immediately and if there was a spillage of acid I would ensure that it was quickly wiped clean and we will watch very carefully what we are doing at all times.

Fair test: I will try to make my experiment fair by only changing one variable. I will keep the amount of limestone the same at five grams and the size of the limestone chips about similar. The total amount of liquid will always stay the same at 100ml. The equipment will be the same as possible but because we are performing the experiment over two days this will be difficult, but we will still use the same kind of equipment. We will use the same kind of acid, being hydrochloric acid. We will try to keep the temperature of the acid the same, at room temperature, but the temperature of the room could differ depending on the weather, but unfortunately there is nothing that can be done to change the weather. All the time we will start the stopwatch from the first bubble and stop it when we get to 25mils of carbon dioxide in the measuring cylinder. We will also use the same units of time each time and measure time to the nearest tenth of a second, and we will also weigh the limestone to the nearest tenth of a gram. Hopefully our experiment will be fair and we will try our hardest to make sure that it is.
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Changes: The only aspect we will change in our experiment is the concentration of the hydrochloric acid so we will be able to get our results and come to a conclusion.

Measurements and Trials: In our experiments we will change the concentration of the acid five times. This way we will be able to get a clear picture of how the concentration of the acid affects the rate of reaction on the limestone. Our five measurements will be 20% acid and 80% water, 40% acid and 60% water, 60% acid and 40% water, 80% acid and ...

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