Find out the effect heating a reactant has on the speed of reaction.

Have a little read: ... Chemistry Coursework Aim: To find out the effect heating a reactant has on the speed of reaction. Prediction: I believe that by heating up a reactant, the reaction will be faster to complete. I believe this because by heating up a substance, it will have more kinetic energy, so the particles will move faster. Heating the reactant will also cause the activation energy needed to be less, because the atoms will already have more energy and the bonds would be starting to break due to the vibrations caused by heating the reactant. By moving faster, the particles will collide with more other particles, so the reaction will be quicker to complete. This is proven by the collision theory. The collision theory states that for chemical reactions to occur, particles must collide with a certain amount of energy and that the more collisions there are in a given time, the faster the reaction. So the result of the particles moving faster is that they collide with greater energy/force and that there are more collisions. Thus making the reaction faster. Apparatus: * Bunsen burner * Heat-proof mat * Tri-pod * Hydrochloric acid * Magnesium ribbon * Timer * Measuring cylinder * Flask * Thermometer * Safety goggles Method: * Set up a Bunsen burner, tri-pod, heat-proof mat [as shown on next page]. * Measure out 50ml of hydrochloric acid in a measuring cylinder. * Put the 50ml of hydrochloric acid into a flask. * Measure out 3cm of magnesium ribbon using a ruler to check the length. * Prepare a timer * Heat to required temperature [30 C,40 C,50 C,60 C,70 C] checking with a thermometer. * When ready, add 3cm of magnesium to the heated hydrochloric acid and start timer * Stop timer when all magnesium has completely disappeared * Record time, then repeat the test 2 more times. Using the 3 results we get we will be able to work out the average times which is more accurate. * Once you have 3 tests for the same temperature complete, alter the temperature and repeat the process Diagram: Bunsen burner, tri-pod and heat-proof mat setup Heating the hydrochloric acid Setup when adding the magnesium ribbon Fair testing: It is important to make sure your test is as fair as you can possibly make it to stop the results being biased. In this experiment, to make it a fair test, I made sure that all volumes of acid stayed the same. This is important because 10cm of magnesium will take longer for the reaction to finish because there is more reactant than if there