Stephanie Chun

March 5, 2010
2213-020

Internal Assessment Investigating the relationship between concentration of reactants

and rate of reaction using hydrochloric acid and magnesium strip

Research Question

To study the effect of manipulating the concentration of hydrochloric acid on the rate of hydrogen gas
production during the reaction with magnesium, using the pressure buildup by hydrogen gas.

Introduction

Concentration and surface area of reactant, temperature, and catalyst are the factors that affect the rate of
a reaction. In this experiment the reaction between hydrochloric acid solution and magnesium ribbon is
used to investigate the effect of reactant concentration on the rate of reaction. The concentration of
hydrochloric acid is manipulated using serial dilution.

Rate of reaction can be calculated by measuring the speed at which reactants are consumed or the speed at
which products are formed. Since gas is produced in this reaction, rate of reaction can be determined by
the change in pressure as reaction proceeds. The pressure inside the test tube in which the reaction occurs
is measured every second over 70 seconds using a gas pressure sensor. The rate of reaction at differing
concentration is obtained by calculating the slope of time vs. pressure graph, since rate of reaction is
change in pressure over time. If the change of pressure is significant the rate of reaction is high and if the
change is small the rate is low.

Hypothesis

The collision theory must be used to study the relationship between concentration of a reactant and the
rate of reaction. The collision theory states that in order for a reaction to occur, two particles involved
must
collide with each other
the collision must be energetic enough to overcome the activation energy of the reaction
the collision must occur with the correct geometrical alignment, bringing the reactive parts of the
molecules in contact
Based on the collision theory, as the concentration of hydrochloric acid solution increases (which means
that the number of hydrogen and chloride ions increase), the chances of magnesium particle colliding with
the hydrochloric acid particles at a given time period also increase. Increase in the overall number of
collision would increase the number of effective collisions, although the ratio between effective and non-
effective collisions would stay constant.

As such, the hypothesis for this experiment is the higher the concentration of hydrochloric acid, the higher
the rate of hydrogen gas production.
Stephanie Chun
March 5, 2010
2213-020

Variables

Method of measuring/ controlling

Variable Measured
variable

The pressure is measured using gas

pressure sensor. The pressure of the test
tube only during initial 70 seconds is
measured to find the change in pressure.
Pressure inside the test tube
To reduce random error three
Dependent measurements are made for each
variable concentration of hydrochloric acid
solution.
The rate of reaction is calculated by
dividing the change in pressure over a
Rate of reaction certain period of time. Thus in the
pressure vs. time graph the slope is the
rate of reaction.
Using 1M hydrochloric acid solution, a
serial dilution is performed to obtain
Independent Concentration of hydrochloric acid solutions of 08M, 0.4M, 0.2M, 0.1M
variable solution and 0.05M concentration, using a pipette
( 0.040 ) and volumetric flask (
0.12 )
2cm of magnesium ribbon is used each
Length of magnesium ribbon trial. The length is accurately measured
using a ruler.
The size of the test tube used should be
constant since change in volume would
also change the pressure inside the
container for the same amount of gas. A
Size of the test tube
small sized test tube is preferred since
Controlled using a large sized container would
variables require a longer time for the pressure to
increase.
10 of hydrochloric solution is used
Volume of hydrochloric acid solution
every trial. The volume used is
used
accurately measured using a pipette.
Temperature of reactants is kept
Temperature of reactants constant by conducting the experiment
at room temperature for every trial.

Table 1: List of variables

Stephanie Chun
March 5, 2010
2213-020

Apparatus and Materials

100 volumetric flask ( 0.12 ) Magnesium ribbon

10 pipette ( 0.040 ) 1M hydrochloric acid solution
Gas pressure sensor probe
Test tubes
Test tube rack

Procedure

Preparation of hydrochloric acid of different concentrations

1. 80 of 1M hydrochloric acid solution is transferred into a 100 volumetric flask using a

10 pipette and distilled water is added up to the marked line.
2. The volumetric flask is capped and inverted several times until a homogenous solution is made.
3. 50 of the obtained solution is transferred into another 100 volumetric flask using a
pipette and distilled water is added up to the marked line. The volumetric flask is capped and
inverted several times. 0.8M hydrochloric acid solution is obtained.
4. Procedure 3. is repeated four times to obtain 0.4M, 0.2M, 0.1M, 0.05M solution. The pipette is
rinsed with the 0.8M solution obtained since the pipette has 1M solution droplets attached inside.

50 distilled water

50

0.8M 0.4M 0.2M 0.1M 0.05M

Figure 1: Serial dilution

Conducting the experiment

5. Magnesium ribbon is cleaned with sandpaper and 2 cm of the cleaned magnesium ribbon is
obtained using a ruler.
6. 10 of 0.8M hydrochloric acid solution is transferred into a test tube.
7. The test tube is closed with a stopper immediately after magnesium ribbon is immersed into the
solution. Gas pressure sensor connected to the stopper measures the pressure inside the test tube.
8. The sensor is removed after 70 seconds.
9. Procedure 5. to 8. is repeated three times for different concentrations of hydrochloric acid.
Stephanie Chun
March 5, 2010
2213-020

Data Collection and Processing

Quantitative Data

Change in pressure over time at different trials /

Hydrochloric acid
concentration /
T1 T2 T3
0.05 0.03414 0.04731 0.04300
0.1 0.06250 0.06205 0.05996
0.2 0.1429 0.1313 0.1330
0.4 0.2701 0.2692 0.2787
0.8 0.8813 0.9008 0.8686

Table 2: Change in pressure over time at different concentrations of hydrochloric acid concentrations1

Qualitative Data
Hydrochloric acid solution was colorless.
Magnetic ribbon turned to shiny silver color after it was cleaned using sand paper.
Effervescence occurred when magnetic ribbon was immersed into hydrochloric acid. The reaction
became less rigorous as the solution concentration decreased.

Processed Data

Hydrochloric acid
Average rate of
concentration / Calculation
reaction/

0.05 0.04148

0.1 0.06150

0.2 0.1357

0.4 0.2727

0.8 0.8836

Table 3: Calculation of average rate of reaction

1
The change in pressure over time was calculated by finding the slope of pressure vs. time graph using Logger Pro
3 software.
Stephanie Chun March 5, 2010
2213-020 Chemistry SL

Data Presentation

Figure 2: Graph of pressure inside test tube against time for every trial of five different concentrations of hydrochloric acid solution2

2
Slopes of lines that have their slope value closest to the average slope value for each concentration are shown in boxes.
Stephanie Chun March 5, 2010
2213-020 Chemistry SL

Concentration of hydrochloric acid, mol dm against rate of

reaction, kPa s
1

0.9
y = 1.126x - 0.0701
0.8 R = 0.9629
Average rate of reaction/ kPa s

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Concentration of hydrochloric acid solution/ mol dm

Figure 3: Graph of average rate of reaction against concentration of hydrochloric acid solution
Stephanie Chun
March 5, 2010
2213-020

Uncertainties

Standard deviation
Standard deviation was calculated and represented in the rate of reaction vs. concentration graph as error
bars.
Hydrochloric acid Change in pressure over time /
concentration Average Standard deviation
/ T1 T2 T3
0.05 0.03414 0.04731 0.04300 0.04148 0.006715
0.1 0.0625 0.06205 0.05996 0.06150 0.001356
0.2 0.1429 0.1313 0.1330 0.1357 0.006264
0.4 0.2701 0.2692 0.2787 0.2727 0.005244
0.8 0.8813 0.9008 0.8686 0.8836 0.01622

Table 4: Standard deviation at different concentrations

Standard deviation calculation:

[HCl] = 0.05

Same calculation was done for 0.1 , 0.2 , 0.4 , and 0.8 .

Uncertainty due to dilution of hydrochloric acid solution

Hydrochloric Uncertainties3
acid Volume of Total
concentration Volume of distilled
hydrochloric acid percentage
/ water used/
solution used/ error/ %
0.32%
0.05
0.32%
0.10
0.32%
0.20
0.32%
0.40
0.65%
0.80

Table 5: Uncertainties of solution concentration due to pipette and volumetric flask

3
Uncertainty due to 10 pipette = 0.040
Uncertainty due to 100 volumetric flask = 0.12
Stephanie Chun
March 5, 2010
2213-020

Uncertainty due to gas pressure sensor

The resolution of gas pressure sensor is 0.05 kPa. Thus the pressure value in pressure vs. time graph has
an uncertainty of . The rate of reaction is change in pressure over time which can be expressed
as below

when P represents pressure and t represents time. Therefore the uncertainty for values of rate of reaction
is

0.05 + 0.05 = 0.1 kPa

since each pressure value has an uncertainty of 0.05 kPa. The uncertainty for the average value of the rate
of reaction should be calculated.
Stephanie Chun
March 5, 2010
2213-020

Conclusion

The relationship between the rate of a reaction and the concentration of reactants can be seen in Figure 3.
The data (average rate of reaction at different concentrations) creates a linear regression line, which
means that the rate of reaction is directly proportional to the concentration of reactants. Thus, as
concentration of hydrochloric acid increases, the rate of reaction increases in linear manner. As such, the
hypothesis is valid.

Evaluation

The results, average rates of reaction, are precise as shown by the standard deviation values in Table 4.
However, the accuracy of the results can be doubted due to the uncertainties of the pipette, volumetric
flask, and gas pressure sensor used. The lack of accuracy of the data is shown in Figure 3, the graph of
rate of reaction against concentration of hydrochloric acid solution. Although the general trend is linear,
proving the hypothesis to be valid, it can be seen that the values are lower than they should be, because
the linear regression line does not pass the origin.

The following are parts of the experiment that may have made the data results less accurate.

Error Impact Improvements

Transferring a solution eight times

using 10 pipette to obtain 80
Using 10 pipette
of the solution would result in greater 50 pipette or graduated
to transfer 80 of
error than transferring the solution cylinder can be used.
solution
once, since error occurs every time a
solution is transferred.