Investigating the Effect of Varying Concentration on the Reaction between Magnesium Ribbon and Hydrochloric Acid

Investigating the Effect of Varying Concentration on the Reaction between Magnesium Ribbon and Hydrochloric Acid

This investigation is being carried out to discover how the

concentration of Hydrochloric Acid (HCL), combined with Magnesium

Ribbon (Mg), diluted with Water (H20) will affect the rate of

reaction. The rate of reaction will be measured by the amount of

hydrogen gas (H2) released. This will be measured every 10 seconds

during the experiment.

Each time the experiment is conducted, the amount of HCL provided for

the reaction to occur will be varied.

The chemical equation for this investigation is:

Mg (s) + 2HCl (aq) à MgCl2 (aq) + H2 (g)

Also in words as:

Magnesium + Hydrochloric acid à Magnesium Chloride + Hydrogen

Preliminary

Before I conducted the real experiment, I conducted a preliminary

experiment. This is where I varied the concentration and the length of

the magnesium ribbon. The aim of this was to find the suitable length

and concentration of the reactants. I found this very useful. I tried

suing 3cm magnesium ribbon but found that the experiment went a lot

slower because there was less magnesium to react. I found this

‘boring’. In an interest to speed up the reaction I used 5cm magnesium

ribbon.

Background Knowledge

In chemistry, there are many possibilities of reactions occuring. They

occur at different speeds. This speed is known as the (ROR) Rate of

Reaction. Precipitation reacts quickly but other reeactions like

fermentation react a lot slower.

There are many other factors which affect the rate of reaction. These

are called variables. In chemistry there are 3 types of variable...

... middle of paper ...

...r this. I would, if I

had more time, repeat each experiment twice instead of 3 times. Due

to time restrictions, I could not do this.

During my experiment I should have been more careful towards the

factors that would be affecting my experiment rather than the ones

that don’t affect my experiment as much.

I would keep the moralities the same if I repeated this experiment

because I found from this investigation that the moralities used were

exactly the right ones for the rate of reaction that I had been

recording.

Before I started my investigation I had the choice of doing this

investigation by either varying the temperature or by varying the

concentration. I chose concentration because I found that temperature

might not be very accurate, due to many factors. I.e. Room temperature

affecting the experiment.