Investigating the rate of reaction between Marble Chips (Calcium Carbonate) and hydrochloric acid.

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Investigating the rate of reaction between Marble Chips (Calcium Carbonate) and hydrochloric acid.

Aim.

In the investigation I am going to find out how the surface area affects the rate of reaction by measuring the amount of gas produced and weight loss in a reaction between small/large pieces of Marble Chips (Calcium Carbonate) and Hydrochloric acid per minute.

Hypothesis.

The rate of reaction increases when the surface area of a solid reactant is increased. This happens because by increasing the surface area we are also increasing the rate of collisions between the particles. When there is more of the reactant to react with the reaction speeds up. Therefore, my hypothesis is: the reaction will be faster when using small chips, so the gas will be produced faster (the same amount of gas will be produced in all experiments).

Apparatus.

  • Conical flask
  • Cotton wool
  • Scales
  • Measuring cylinder (50ml)
  • Stopwatch

Method.

Take one large piece of Calcium Carbonate and record its weight.

Measure 50cm of hydrochloric acid (using measuring cylinder).

Place the flask on scales.

Add the marble chip and hydrochloric acid to the conical flask at the same time and close the top with cotton wool to prevent the spitting out of the reactants.

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Start off the stopwatch (you might want to ask someone else to do this for you in order for the timing to start as soon as the reactants are mixed).

Record the weight loss (gas given off) every 20 seconds for the 10 minutes of the reaction. Repeat the experiment using large marble chip.

Repeat the whole experiment again using other sizes of the marble chips. Make sure you take the same amount of chips and hydrochloric acid at each time.

If time allows, repeat the experiments in order to improve the reliability of the results.

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