How does the length of Magnesium affect the rate of reaction? Essay

How does the length of Magnesium affect the rate of reaction? Input Variables – Magnesium strip Hydrochloric acid Outcome Variable - Release of hydrogen I have chosen to investigate whether the difference in length of a Magnesium ribbon, would change the speed in which the reaction between Hydrochloric acid and Magnesium takes. We will measure this by timing how long until the magnesium strip vanishes and there is no release of Hydrogen. Aim: I am trying to find out whether the length of Magnesium causes any alterations in the rate of reaction between Hydrochloric acid and Magnesium. I will be measuring this by timing how long it takes for the magnesium to be no longer visible and there is no hydrogen released. Prediction: I think that when Hydrochloric acid of the same volume come in to contact with Magnesium of different lengths of ribbon,, the rate if reaction for the longer strip would be far slower than the shorter one. I believe that this as the collision theory tells us that molecules collide which cause to react and merge to create a compound. This reaction varies in speed depending on the amount of molecules in the mixture and how much energy the molecules possess, which is why heated molecules react faster than normal ones. So with the amount of Hydrochloric acid staying relatively the same yet the number of Magnesium molecules increasing, the reaction will only take longer as the molecules have to collide even more for the reaction to be complete. Hypothesis: If my prediction is to be proven correct, then the time taken to react to the longest strip of Magnesium would take the longest and the short strip would take the least amount of time. We should also see from repeated attempts at this experiment, that the averages would also increase depending on the length of the Magnesium ribbon. Control Variables: I have chosen not change the volume of hydrochloric acid, and the width of acid will alter the amount and effectiveness of the acid, which will make the rate of reaction speed up and cause an unfair experiment. I have also kept the magnesium strip the same ribbon, as if the width if the magnesium strip is changed, the surface area would become larger and more molecules would be able to collide at one time, which would mean that the rate of reaction would be faster. Preliminary Work: I have... ...unt of time taken to perform the experiment and would give me the opportunity for more tests to be taken and more data to be retrieved. However, the tests that were performed were a fair test as the method used was very simple, so error wasn’t a large factor. This meant that the solution could react without being tampered with. Although, on performing the second attempt for the 5cm strip, the tube was accidentally split by passers – by, so we had to stop the time and record the time thus far. This could be the cause for the anomalies within the results and if I were to do it again, I would expect the results to be greatly different. Due to the amount of stopwatches used in the experiment, we were able to get the exact time for each test tube, which was easier for recording than just using one, which I did during the preliminary experiment. Conclusion: In conclusion, I found out that my prediction was right and that the longer strip took a comparatively longer reaction time than the short two centimetre strip. This can be seen from the evidence gathered, which I believed to be accurate and would appear again if this experiment were to be performed once more.