ACIDS AND METALS

RESEARCH QUESTION: T RENDS THE OCCUR WITH ACIDS AND METALS

EXPERIMENT: Same length of Mg strip is added to different concentrations (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mol dm ) of H2SO4. EQUATION: H2SO4(aq) + Mg(s) MgSO4(aq) + H2(g)
-3

QUANTITATE DATA: Rate of Reaction:

Time Taken for Magnesium Strip to Fully Dissolve in Different Concentrations of H2SO4 Concentration (in mol dm-3): 0.5 1 1.5 2 Time (in seconds): 521 399 144 50

TIME TAKEN FOR MAGNESIUM STRIP TO FULLY DISSOLVE IN DIFFERENT CONCENTRATIONS OF H2SO4
600 Time in seconds 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 Concentration in mol dm-3

QUALITATIVE DATA (OB SERVATIONS): 0.5 MOL DM H 2 SO 4 Small bubbles form around side (not middle of Mg strip). Oxidization of metal is going away and shiny appearance is starting to take place (on the sides). Gas is being released, whilst the oxidization has completely disappeared. Bigger bubbles now forming on the bottom of the Mg strip. o Causing more gas to be released. Precipitation forming around inside of conical flask. Metal veers around side of the conical flask. When touched the flask feels slightly warm. Mg strip decreasing in size. Slither of Mg is no longer straight but rather has started to form uneven bumps. The big bubbles formed have no become smaller once more and the sides of the Mg are decreasing in size, shorter strip of Mg than initially. The metal appears more white than shiny. Metal has taken the appearance of a small piece of paper. Metal remains to react only on the side of the conical flask not the middle. Metal decreases more gradually in size compared to before (taking a longer period of time). Metal disappears completely, all bubble formation has ceased.
-3 -3

1.0 MOL DM H 2 SO 4 Bubbles are small in size when initially dropped but gradual increase over time. Constant change of oxidized to shiny in all areas of the Mg strip. Slightly bigger bubbles being formed. When touched flask feels slightly warm. Bubbles forming between area between metal and conical flask. Bubbles decrease in size. Gas starts forming. The straight strip now also begins to form bumps. A larger bump forms in the middle of the piece and gradually collapses and causes a breakage. The bigger section yet again to form two smaller pieces. The smaller sections disappear, leaving the larger remaining segments. These too disappear and no reaction (no bubbles) is visible.

1.5 MOL DM H 2 SO 4 On impact with acid the Mg strip starts to react vigorously. The oxidization disappears faster to form shiny surface. Bubbles are big and the metal like the previous reactions only reacts on the side of the conical flask. When touched flask was warm. Metal no longer straight and forms the shape of the conical flask and then promptly breaks into two pieces.

-3

Two pieces remain and the bubbles decrease slightly in size. Gas is being formed as well as percipient around the flask. The one piece disappears whilst the other soon follows with no bubbles remaining.
-3

2.0 MOL DM H 2 SO 4 As soon as contact with acid the Mg strong starts forming big bubbles and promptly moves to the side of the conical flask. The oxidization disappears on the sides of the Mg strip and then disappears in the middle. Big bubbles still forming with gas released. Flask felt warm to touch. Unpleasant smell released from the conical flask (through the gas, which was more misty than other reactions)

INFERENCES USING BOTH QUALITATIVE AND QUANTI TATIVE DATA: When the Mg was dropped as the concentration increased the reaction started more vigorously and fast. The reaction caused a change of temperature observed though the touching of the flask and the slight warmth perceived (therefore it can be inferred that an exothermic reaction was taking place). This happened throughout all the different concentrations. The reaction increased when the initial oxidization was eliminated, it then decreased as the size of the Mg strip decreased, this could be because there was less concentration of Mg for the acid to react with and therefore a decreased in rate of reaction. In all reactions gas was formed causing precipitant, this is probably the hydrogen gas which is a product of the reaction with the Mg and the sulfuric acid. However at -3 2.0 mol dm the gas formed an unpleasant smell and also slightly more misty. However, using the quantitative data it is possible to infer that the rate of reaction decreased as there was more -3 concentration of acid. Therefore the less the concentration (0.5 mol dm ) the longer it took for the Mg strip -3 (reactant) to react and become product, compared to a higher concentration (2.0 mol dm ). This is also evident from the increase in volatility observed as the concentration increased, therefore bigger bubbles formed; reaction was more vigorous when Mg initially dropped into acid; and more gas and precipitate was formed.

COMPARING GROUP 1 TO GROUP 2: Mg is part of group 2, alkaline earth metals. However alkaline metals, group 1, are far more reactive. This is mostly because they only need to lose one electron to become stable and form and electron configuration like that of a noble gas. Therefore compared to Mg, Na would be far more reactive in an acid and have a much lower rate of reaction as well as more vigorous.

COMPARING HCl TO H 2 SO 4 HCl acid is stronger than H2SO4 because HCl acid dissociates completely. Therefore HCl H + Cl , whilst H2SO4 HSO4 + H
+ +

Therefore after the first dissociation H2SO4 can still dissociate more whilst HCl cant. Therefore HCl is more strong acid and therefore with Mg the rate of reaction would be slightly less.