Chapter 8:

Rates of reaction
Rate of reaction
 The rate of reaction refers to the speed at which a
chemical reaction occurs.

 The rate of reaction can be measured by working out

how much of one of the products has been made in
given time, or how much of a reactant has been used
up in each time.
Rate of
reaction
 Reaction between magnesium ribbon and dilute sulfuric acid, bubbl
of hydrogen
gas are given off.

 When the reaction is carried out, we will notice that at the start of
reaction a lot of bubbles were given off quickly, as the reaction proce
further fewer bubbles are produced.

 Eventually, no more bubbles were produced.

 Rate of
reaction
he magnesium and sulfuric acid reaction, the easiest way to measure th
asure how quickly the hydrogen gas is produced.

can measure the volume of gas produced gas, of time.

ollect the gas, we can attach syringe to the top of a flask so that no hyd
e.
 Questions

2. Because there is no further increase in the volume of the gas

given off after 270 seconds.

3. The syringe plunger might shoot out of the end of the casing and break or
hurt someone.
You should watch the experiment very carefully and open the top of the flask
if the volume of gas produced gets close to 100 cm.
You could tie the syringe plunger to the barrel with string so that it cannot
move very far if it is forced out of the casing.
4. The result at 90 seconds is anomalous. You can see this because it does
not fit the pattern of the graph.
The experiment should be repeated and if you continue to get a result that
does not fit the pattern, it might help you decide that there was a change in
pattern. If you get a result that fits the pattern, you will decide that the original
result was an error.

5.

6. 6 cm3 of carbon dioxide is produced in this 20 second period, so the average

rate of reaction is 6 ÷ 20 = 0.3 cm/s.
This rate is less than one-third of the rate between 10 and 30 seconds.
Rate of reaction

As carbon dioxide gas is lost from the flask, the mass of the
flask decreases.

If we measure the mass every 30 seconds, we will find that

the mass decreases quickly at first but as the reaction
continues, the mass decreases more and more quickly.
Using the graph
aph can be used to measure the rate of reaction at any given time.

slope or gradient of the line tells you how quickly the reaction is taking

steeper the slope, the faster the reaction.

 The line is steepest at the start of the

reaction. This is when reaction is
fastest.

 As the slope of the line becomes less

steep, the reaction is becoming slower.

 When the line levels out, it shows that

no more product is formed. This means
that the reaction has ended.
Using the graph

To find rate of reaction between

10 seconds
and 30 seconds, draw a line A and
B.

Then draw line C between A and

B.

The distance of C represents the

time taken.

The line D shows how volume of

carbon
Dioxide produced.

Rate = D/C
 Why does the rate of reaction change ?
 For a chemical reaction to take place, the particles of
the reactants involved So, collide with one another
with enough energy to react together.

 At the start of the reaction there are a lot of particles

that have not reacted.

 Collision happens frequently. So, reaction rate is

high.

 As the particles react, the number of particles that

have not reacted gets lower and lower.

 Chance of unreacted particle colliding with each

other decreases. So, rate of reaction slows down.

 Eventually, all the particles have reacted. There are

no more collisions, so the rate of reaction is zero.
 Surface area and the rate of
reaction
 The rate of a chemical reaction can be raised by increasing the surface
area of a solid reactant.

 This is done by cutting the substance into small pieces, or by grinding it

into a powder.

 For example, reaction between granular zinc and powdered zinc with
hydrochloric acid we will see more bubble of hydrogen will be produced in
case of powdered zinc.
 Temperature and the rate of reaction
 As temperature increases, the rate of a chemical
reaction increases.

 When temperature rises, molecules move faster.

 This means they collide more frequently and with

greater energy.
Temperature and the rate of reaction

We could observe that rate of reaction

faster at higher temperature.

But the amount of product is same.

 Concentration and the rate of reaction
 The rate of a chemical reaction increases as the concentration of
reactants increases.

 This is because a higher concentration means more reactant particles are

moving around, which increases the number of collisions between the
particles.
B. The smaller the pieces of marble are, the larger their surface
area. The powder has more surface area exposed to the acid and
so more collisions between the acid particles and marble particles
will happen more often. Thus, the reaction will happen more
quickly.

C. The test for carbon dioxide is to bubble it through limewater. If

the gas is carbon dioxide, the limewater will turn milky.

D. calcium chloride
8.2

a. Magnesium + sulfuric acid = magnesium sulfate + hydrogen

b. To test for hydrogen, he could use a lighted splint.

If the gas burns with a squeaky pop, then the gas is hydrogen.

c. warming the acid and stirring the mixture

Exercise 8.1A Showing the change in rate of reaction on a graph

1 between 0 and 100 seconds

2 between 250 and 350 seconds

3 35 cm? (allow 36 cm3)

4 (66 - 53) cm? = 13 cm3

Exercise 8.1B Changes in the rate of reaction

1 magnesium + hydrochloric acid = magnesium chloride + hydrogen

2 She did this to ensure her results were reliable.

5 The reaction ended after 80 seconds. We know this because no more hydrogen
was produced after this time.

6 The reaction is fastest between zero seconds and twenty seconds.

Exercise 8.1C Explaining observations

1 Mg + 2HCl → MgCl2 + H2

2. The difficulty of assembling the apparatus, adding the acid and starting the
stop clock all the same time

Have one person in charge of the timing and one in charge of the assembling
of the apparatus
4 The graph shows that the volume of hydrogen gas collected increases
over the time of the experiment.

However, more hydrogen is collected in the first 30 seconds than in all

subsequent 30-second periods.

The rate of reaction decreases over the time of the experiment and by 270
seconds the reaction is complete, as there is no further increase in the
volume of hydrogen collected.

5 16 cm3 per minute or 0.27 cm3/s.

6 6 cm3 per minute or 0.1 cm3/s.

7 At the start of the reaction there are many particles of magnesium and
hydrochloric acid. These must collide with each other with enough energy to
react. As the particles react there are fewer left that are unreacted, so the
chance of them colliding decreases and the rate of reaction decreases.
When there are no more unreacted particles left, the reaction is complete.

Topic 8.2 Surface area and the rate of reaction

Exercise 8.2 Surface area and the rate of reaction

1 hydrogen
2 zinc +hydrochloric acid= zinc chloride + hydrogen

3 It is di cult to read the volume of gas on the measuring cylinder, especially if

the changes are very small.
You must read it carefully as the cylinder is upside down.
4 the same

5 There should be a statement to the effect that the reaction starts o fairly
quickly, then slows down. At 420 seconds, the reaction has not yet finished.

6 The line for the flat piece of zinc is steeper than the one for the lump of zinc
and the line flattens out sooner than the one for the lump of zinc.

7 There is the same mass of zinc in both experiments but the reaction using
the flat piece of zinc is faster than the one using the lump of zinc. This is
because the flat piece of zinc has a larger surface area than the lump of zinc.
When the reaction takes place, only the particles on the surface of the zinc can
react with the acid as they are the only ones in contact with it. So, the flat piece
of zinc reacts more quickly.
8 The zinc powder has a much greater surface area than the flat piece of zinc.
There are more particles (on the surface of the zinc powder) exposed to the
hydrochloric acid, so, the reaction can take place more quickly.
The reaction again slows as there are fewer particles left to react. The reaction
is complete more quickly than with the flat piece of zinc.
But because the masses of the flat piece of zinc and the zinc powder are the
same, the total volume of hydrogen produced is the same.

Topic 8.3 Temperature and the rate of reaction

Exercise 8.3A Explaining changes in the rate of reaction
1 a At the start of the reaction there are a lot of reactant particles. They move
about and many them are likely to collide with one another with enough
energy to react.
b As the reaction continues, some of the particles have reacted so there are
fewer reactant particles left. There are fewer available particles to collide and
react, so the rate of reaction decreases.

2 When the temperature increases, some of the thermal energy is transferred

to the particles.
The particles with more energy move more quickly. This means that there will
be more collisions in a period, so the rate of reaction will increase.
Exercise 8.3B Temperature and the rate of reaction
1 a Credit any suitable metal such as magnesium or zinc and acids
such as hydrochloric, sulfuric or nitric acid.

b Wear safety glasses.

c The mass, surface area and type of metal; the volume,

concentration and type of acid.

d Because there will be no more bubbles of gas given off.

e Table with these headers

Challenge
2 a and c

b. For a reaction to take place, the particles of the reactants must collide with
enough energy. The particles of the acid are constantly moving. The higher the
temperature, the more energy the particles have and they move more quickly.
This means that there are likely to be more collisions that result in a reaction.
The higher the temperature, the faster the reaction.
c The results would show that the reaction times at all temperatures would be
lower than when the first experiment was done. This is because the powdered
metal has a greater surface area so more particles are available to react in
each time.

Topic 8.4 Concentration and the rate of reaction

Exercise 8.4A Concentration and the rate of reaction

1 There should be an explanation of mixing the acid with different volumes of

water. Some reference to accuracy should be included, such as how to read
the measuring cylinder correctly using the bottom of the meniscus and
ensuring it is at eye level, and the use of safety glasses. For example,
dilutions could be: 10 cm3 acid with 40 cm3 water; 20 cm3 acid with 30 cm3
water; 30 cm3 acid with 20 cm3 water; 40 cm3 of acid with 10 cm3 of water and
50 cm3 acid with 0 cm3 water.
2 The girls measure the time taken for the reaction to end. They can see this
when no more bubbles of gas are given off.

3 Measuring cylinders, test tubes or beakers, test tube rack, safety glasses,
stopwatch.

4 You would expect them to find the more concentrated the acid, the faster the
reaction.

5 This would happen because there are more acid particles in the more
concentrated acid than in the less concentrated acid. The same volume of acid
has been used so that there are more acid particles in the same volume. The acid
particles move around and collide with the zinc particles and this is when a
reaction happens.
Since there are more acid particles in the higher concentration acid, there will be
more collisions and so, a faster reaction.
Exercise 8.4B Which results are which?
1 Concentration 0 was not used because there is no acid present in it,
and zinc does not react with water.
3. At all three concentrations of acid, the reaction rate follows the same
pattern. The reaction starts o quickly and slows over time. The x4
concentration, the most concentrated, completed the reaction in the fastest
time. The least concentrated acid, x2, took the longest to complete the
reaction. All three reactions produced the same volume of hydrogen but took
different times to reach that final volume.

4. The x 4 acid had the most acid particles available in the volume of acid
solution used, the x 3 acid had fewer and the x 2 acid had the least.
This meant that, for the x 4 concentration, there were more particles in contact
with the zinc so more collisions took place in each given time until all the zinc
particles had reacted with acid particles. The reaction was completed more
quickly than with the x 3 and x 2 acid because the rate of collisions was always
greater.
Exercise 8.4C As fast as possible

3 The mass of marble chips and the volume of dilute hydrochloric acid (credit
also the type and concentration of acid used).

4 The surface area of the marble chips. The temperature of the acid.

5 Surface area: If they crush the marble chips to a powder there will be a
greater surface area of reactant. This means that there will be more particles of
the marble chips in contact with the acid particles so there will be more
collisions between the particles and thus the reaction will be faster.

Temperature: If they warm the acid the particles will have more energy and will
move more rapidly. This will mean more frequent collisions of the particles, so
the reaction will be quicker. It will also mean that more of the collisions will
happen with enough energy for the reaction to take place.
6 This will depend on the method chosen. Points covered could be:
• 20 g marble chips measured, crushed in a pestle and mortar and placed in a
filter paper
• 50 cm3 dilute hydrochloric acid measured and placed in a flask
• apparatus assembled, details depending on method
• marble chips added carefully and timer started; then 100 cm3 carbon dioxide
collected and timer stopped.

7 it is difficult to add the crushed marble chips quickly without losing any
• it is difficult to get the stopper back on the flask quickly
• some of the gas produced may be lost, the top of the tubes cannot easily be
made airtight, or gas lost into water trough