How does the length of Magnesium affect the rate of reaction?

How does the length of Magnesium affect the rate of reaction?

Input Variables – Magnesium strip

Hydrochloric acid

Outcome Variable - Release of hydrogen

I have chosen to investigate whether the difference in length of a

Magnesium ribbon, would change the speed in which the reaction between

Hydrochloric acid and Magnesium takes. We will measure this by timing

how long until the magnesium strip vanishes and there is no release of

Hydrogen.

Aim: I am trying to find out whether the length of Magnesium causes

any alterations in the rate of reaction between Hydrochloric acid and

Magnesium. I will be measuring this by timing how long it takes for

the magnesium to be no longer visible and there is no hydrogen

released.

Prediction: I think that when Hydrochloric acid of the same volume

come in to contact with Magnesium of different lengths of ribbon,, the

rate if reaction for the longer strip would be far slower than the

shorter one. I believe that this as the collision theory tells us that

molecules collide which cause to react and merge to create a compound.

This reaction varies in speed depending on the amount of molecules in

the mixture and how much energy the molecules possess, which is why

heated molecules react faster than normal ones. So with the amount of

Hydrochloric acid staying relatively the same yet the number of

Magnesium molecules increasing, the reaction will only take longer as

the molecules have to collide even more for the reaction to be

complete.

Hypothesis: If my prediction is to be proven correct, then the time

taken to react to the longest strip of Magnesium would take the

longest and the short strip would take the least amount of time. We

should also see from repeated attempts at this experiment, that the

averages would also increase depending on the length of the Magnesium

ribbon.

Control Variables: I have chosen not change the volume of hydrochloric

acid, and the width of acid will alter the amount and effectiveness of

the acid, which will make the rate of reaction speed up and cause an

unfair experiment. I have also kept the magnesium strip the same

ribbon, as if the width if the magnesium strip is changed, the surface

area would become larger and more molecules would be able to collide

at one time, which would mean that the rate of reaction would be

faster.

Preliminary Work: I have...

... middle of paper ...

...unt of time

taken to perform the experiment and would give me the opportunity for

more tests to be taken and more data to be retrieved.

However, the tests that were performed were a fair test as the method

used was very simple, so error wasn’t a large factor. This meant that

the solution could react without being tampered with. Although, on

performing the second attempt for the 5cm strip, the tube was

accidentally split by passers – by, so we had to stop the time and

record the time thus far. This could be the cause for the anomalies

within the results and if I were to do it again, I would expect the

results to be greatly different.

Due to the amount of stopwatches used in the experiment, we were able

to get the exact time for each test tube, which was easier for

recording than just using one, which I did during the preliminary

experiment.

Conclusion: In conclusion, I found out that my prediction was right

and that the longer strip took a comparatively longer reaction time

than the short two centimetre strip. This can be seen from the

evidence gathered, which I believed to be accurate and would appear

again if this experiment were to be performed once more.