REQUIRED PRACTICAL 3

Factors which affect the rate of a chemical reaction

• During a reaction, the?reactants?are used up and changed into the?products
• The rate of a chemical reaction can be calculated using the following equation:

• As a reaction proceeds, the concentration of the reactants is?decreasing?and the concentration of the products is?increasing
• Because of this, the?rate of the reaction?is not the same throughout the reaction but?changes
• The rate of reaction during the reaction can be calculated from a?concentration-time graph
• A tangent will have to be drawn at a certain point on the graph, to calculate the rate at that specific time
• The following graph is an example of cyclopropane being converted to propene
  • The concentration of cyclopropene, the reactant, is decreasing over time as the reaction progresses

   

The rate of reaction at 3 different concentrations of cyclopropane is calculated by drawing tangents at those points in the graph

The Disappearing Cross Experiment

• A simple experiment which can be done to determine how rate of reaction is affected by concentration is the disappearing cross experiment
• It is set up as follows:

The Disappearing Cross Experiment

• This experiment can be done for a number of different reactions, but taking the following reaction as an example:

Na2S2O3?(aq) + 2HCl (aq)? → 2NaCl (aq) + H2O (l) + SO2?(g) + S (s)

• In this reaction, sodium thiosulphate reacts with hydrochloric acid
• The key product which allows this experiment to work, is the sulfur which is a solid, and causes the solution to become opaque
• There are actually two factors which can be investigated using the disappearing cross reaction:
  • Changing the temperature
  • Changing the concentration of the HCl

   

• You can plot graphs of concentration against time if the concentration of HCl was changed, or plot 1/t against temperature if the temperature was changed
  • You plot 1/t because the rate is proportional to 1/time and the graph you want is rate versus temperature