Name:

Lab partner(s):

2024 Year 10 General science

CAT 2: Measuring the rate of a reaction

Instructions:
You will carry out this experiment at school. You will need a maximum of 9 tablets. You will need
to complete this booklet and then use your data to make an experiment poster report. All your
observations and raw data are to be recorded in this booklet, which will then be used to help you put
together your experiment poster.
Experiment: Measuring the rate of a reaction

Background:
Seltzer tablets are used to neutralize excess stomach acid and relieve minor aches and pains, upset
stomach, headache, and indigestion. Seltzer tablets are designed to be dissolved in water and then
ingested. When the tablets are placed in water, a chemical reaction occurs. Alka-Seltzer tablets
contain sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and citric acid (C6H8O7).
When sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) reacts with citric acid, they produce sodium citrate, carbon
dioxide gas, and water. The bubbles that are seen rising out of the water are the carbon dioxide gas.
The chemical equation for the reaction is:

3NaHCO3(aq) + C6H8O7(aq) → C6H5Na3O7(aq) + 3CO2 (g)+ 3H2O(l)

When Alka-Seltzer tablet is dissolved in water, bicarbonate ion (HCO3–) and hydrogen ions (H+) in
the citric acid react to produce carbon dioxide and water. For the reaction to occur, the HCO 3– and
H+ must collide at the right angle with the right amount of energy. The ionic equation for this
reaction is:

HCO3– (aq) + H+ (aq) → H2O (l) + CO2 (g)

In this experiment you will explore the effect of either water temperature or surface area of the
Alka-Seltzer tablets on the rate of reaction.

Carefully select one of the experiments below to complete.

1. The Effect of Temperature on Rate of Reaction

- measuring the time required for an Alka-Seltzer tablet to dissolve at different water
temperatures. (Water is hot, cold and at room temperature.)

2. The Effect of Surface Area on Rate of Reaction

- measuring the time required for an Alka-Seltzer tablet to dissolve by changing its surface
area. (Alka-Seltzer tablet is whole, broken into four pieces or crushed into a fine powder)

Aim: (what is the purpose of the experiment)

To find out weather or not a tablet with a larger or smaller surface area will dissolve faster in water

Hypothesis: (write this in an “if _ then _ because _” statement)

if there is a larger surface area then the tablet will dissolve faster because it has a larger surface area
to react to.

Variables: (list each of the different type of experimental variables here)

Independent: (the variable I will change)

 the surface are of the tablet

Dependent: (the variable I will measure)

the time it takes for the tablet to dissolve

Controlled: (the variable I will keep the same)

The water

Background information:
1. What is collision theory?
For a reaction to occur each reactant must hit with enough energy and in the right orientation
2. Referencing collision theory, how does your independent variable influence the rate of
reactions?
By increasing the surface area of the tablet, you can increase the rate of reactions occurring
giving it a higher chance

3. Explain how other variables influence reaction rate.

The air temperature could have influenced out experiment

You will be required to perform 3 trials for your chosen experiment.

Experiment 2: The Effect of Temperature on Rate of Reaction

Materials: You will need the following materials
 6 Clear cups
 9 original formula effervescent Alka-Seltzer tablets – 3 whole tablets, 3 tablets cut into
halves, 3 tablets which need to be individually crushed.
 Stopwatch on your mobile phone
 Measuring cup (mL)

Method: You will write a detailed step by step method for your practical, referencing the
measurements, number of trials etc.
Hint: Think about variables you need to control for and make sure you provide instructions
on how to control for these in your method.

Repeat this experiment another two times so that you have 3 trials for each of Parts A, B, and C.

You will need to calculate the average time taken for the tablets to dissolve in each of the
conditions.

Results:
Observations: (write any qualitative observations here)
 Compared to the full tablet the halved tablet bubbles much more violently and faster after a few
seconds the tablets start to float. Compared to the full tablets the half tablets leave more powder
behind on the bottom of the glass. Surprisingly the powdered tablets all foam and some of the
powder stays above the water for a moment before reacting though there is a lot of powder in the
bottom. With the powdered tablets there is a much larger concentration of bubbles that any other
tablet.

Table (include a title for your table)

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average

Time taken Time taken for Time taken for Time taken
for a tablet to a tablet to a tablet to for a tablet
dissolve dissolve dissolve of to dissolve

Part A: Whole tablet

Part B: Tablet cut into

2 pieces

Part D: Crushed tablet

Graphing: Graph your data on excel. Place time on the y-axis for whichever experiment you have
chosen. Paste your excel graph below so that it can be used in your poster. Include a title for your
graph, and X and Y axis.

Surface Area Experiment

180

160

140

120

100
Time (s)

80

60

Question 40
2: Describe the general trends you can see in your graph.
20
___________________________________________________________________________
0
full tablet halfed tablet powderd tablet
___________________________________________________________________________
Surface area
Describe the general trend that you can see in your graph.
You may wish to discuss the error bars in your graph. You will find attached a document entitled
“An Excel Guide to Graphing to help you with the presentation of your graph and a discussion of
error bars.

The trend that we see in our graph is that it is a nonlinear negative graph. It shows that with a larger
surface area the time it takes for the tablet to dissolve gets smaller with the largest surface area
tablets taking less than half the amount of time as the full tablet.

Discussion:

1. Which combination of factors made the reaction go the fastest? (Hint: Use
collision theory to explain your answer). Do you results support your
hypothesis?

During my experiment the factors that made the reaction of the tablets react the fastest was a fully
powdered table which follows reaction theory as a larger surface area of a reactant will make it react
faster because it has a larger area to react to

2. Is your data precise and accurate? How could you improve the precision and accuracy?
Remember: Precision is how close measurements of the same item are to each other, and
accuracy is how close to the true/expected value results are.

Our data is somewhat accurate it does show the correlation between reaction time of a reactant with
smaller and larger surface area’s but in out data set there is a margin of human error as the most
inconsistent thing about our data is the stopwatch time as it was started and stopped by a human.

3. Do you think this experiment is valid? Have there been any uncontrolled variables that may
affect your results?
Remember: Validity refers to how accurate a method measures what it
wants to measure. It is impacted by uncontrolled variables.

I think that this experiment was valid as it does have a repeatable method that others wanting to also
conduct this experiment would also be able to achieve some similar results and if not the same it
should have a similar trend of our conducted experiment where with larger surface area it takes the
tablet less time to dissolve

4. Were there any errors or uncertainties in this experiment? How may they have affected your
results?

In our experiment there could be a few errors or uncertainties as we are only human, but I do think
that there were a few errors like stopping the timer at the tight time as not every test was the same
and it shows in our data that our average uncertainty was roughly 200.
 5. What areas of this experiment could be improved and how?
Of out experiment one of the areas would could improve is being more decisive and concise with our
timing as human error was most likely the cause of our large uncertainties in out data set.

Putting together your scientific poster:

From your results so far, you should be ready to put together your scientific poster. Your poster
should include the following sections. A breakdown of what to include in each section has been
included.
There are several free Scientific Report PowerPoint Templates available on the internet. Here is an
example https://www.makesigns.com/SciPosters_Templates.aspx

Title:

Introduction:
 Aim
 Hypothesis
 Variables (independent, dependent, and controlled)
 Background information (related to the practical) such as collision
theory and rate of reaction.

Materials:

Method:

Results:
 Table of results
 Any qualitative observations

Discussion:
6. The general trends observed in your data
7. Do you think your data is in line with your understanding?
8. Is your data precise and accurate? How could
you improve the precision and accuracy?
9. Do you think this experiment is valid? Have
there been any uncontrolled variables that
may affect your results?
10. Were there any errors or uncertainties in this experiment?
11. How may they have affected your results?
12. What areas of this experiment could be improved and how?
13. Comparing your data to other groups,
comment on the reliability
(repeatability + reproducibility) of this experiment.

Conclusion:
 A concise summary of the general trend observed in this experiment
 A comment on whether the aim was met and whether the hypothesis was supported
Communication Statement:
 A one sentence summary of the key finding of the report.
Your report should not exceed more than 600 words.

Title
Student name

Introduction Discussion

Communication
Methodology and methods statement reporting
the key finding
of the investigation as
a one-sentence
summary
Results Conclusion

References and acknowledgements

Year 10 General Science CAT 2: Measuring the Rate of Reaction Rubric

Criterion Not Emerging Working At the Standard Above the Standard Well Above the
Met towards the Standard
Standard
Introduction Not met The student discussed The student was able to The student was able to define The student was able to explain collision The student was able to explain
what causes the rate define collision theory collision theory and relate it to theory and used this to explain the collision theory and used this to
of reaction. The aim and linked this the reaction rate in this outcome of the experiment in terms of explain the effect of the
of the experiment was generally to reaction experiment. The aim of the each variable. The supporting reasons controlled variables.
stated. Experimental rate. The aim of the experiment was stated in terms given are based on relevant science
variables were experiment was stated, of variables and a relevant understanding (information presented in
identified. and a hypothesis hypothesis proposed in the if ... the introduction). Potential uncontrolled
proposed. Independent then ... because … format. variables and method of control for the
and dependent Independent, dependent and controlled variables was discussed.
experimental variables controlled variables were
were identified. identified.
Method Not met Hazards were Hazards relevant to the Risks relevant to the experiment A risk assessment was undertaken using a
identified. A general experiment were were identified and the steps to risk assessment tool, from with hazards
method was provided identified. A step by reduce the associated risk and the steps necessary to reduce the
but lacked detail. step process for the stated. A detailed step by step associated risk were identified. A step by
experiment was process, including instructions step process for the experiment was
provided. on controlling for variables for provided. An explanation as to how the
the experiment was provided data was analysed was included.
including the specific materials
used.
Results Not met Some data was Most relevant data was Relevant data was collected and Relevant data was collected and The data was summarised into an
collected. A table of collected and organised using consistent appropriately organised using consistent appropriate graph, including
data was included. appropriately organised. decimal places. The data was decimal places. Qualitative observations error bars to indicate the
The collected data was summarised into a suitable were included. The data was summarised uncertainty.
organised into a graph graph, including appropriate into an appropriate graph and a trendline
but some of the data and labels, titles and units. was used to highlight the relationship.
graphical features were
missing.
Discussion Not met A description of how A link was made A trend was identified between The trend identified was evaluated with The trend was evaluated with
the dependent between the dependent the dependent and independent reference to scientific concepts. Accuracy reference to the reliability and
variable changed was and independent variable. and precision of the results were validity of the experiment.
given. In general, the variables. Accuracy and The accuracy and precision of discussed, and improvements were Reliability was explained in
following were precision were defined. the results were discussed. suggested. Reliability was explained in terms of repeatability and
discussed, the Experimental reliability Reliability was explained and terms of repeatability and reproducibility reproducibility. Suggestions on
accuracy or precision was explained. the validity of the experiment with reference to the experiment. The improving the reliability were
of the results, the Experimental validity was described. Errors and validity of the experiment was explained discussed. Errors were classified
reliability of the was explained. Errors uncertainties were identified in regard to controlled and uncontrolled and uncertainties within the
results, and the errors and uncertainties within and their effect on the results variables. Errors were classified and experiment were identified and
of the experiment. An the experiment were were explained. A conclusion uncertainties within the experiment were linked to accuracy and precision.
overall conclusion listed. A conclusion that that summarises the experiment identified and their effects on the results A conclusion that summarised
was provided. summarised the and evaluated the hypothesis explained. A conclusion outlining the the experiment and evaluated the
experiment was was provided. experiment, and which evaluated the hypothesis and provides
 provided. hypothesis was provided. Scientific suggestions for future studies.
reasoning was used in the evaluation. Scientific reasoning and data
analysis were used in this
evaluation.
Communication Not met The presentation The presentation was The presentation included The presentation focused on colour and
included key parts but formatted like a appropriate titles and layout to produce a visually engaging
was not formatted in a scientific poster but subheadings. The poster was poster. Written sections were organised
logical sequence. lacked some formatted in a logical sequence. using proper titles and subheadings. The
Information was titles/subheadings. Information was presented in poster was formatted in a logical
presented in simple Information was suitable sentence structure and sequence. Information was presented in
sentence structure and presented in simple mostly correct spelling. suitable sentence structure and correct
there were spelling sentence structure and Scientific language was used spelling. Scientific language and
mistakes. Little mostly correct spelling. appropriately. conventions were used appropriately.
evidence of scientific Scientific language was
language was used sometimes used.
throughout.