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Rates of reaction

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Question 4

A group of students investigated the reaction between zinc granules and dilute sulfuric acid:

Zn(s)+H2SO4(aq)→ZnSO4(aq)+H2(g) \text{Zn}(s) + \text{H}_2\text{SO}_4(aq) \rightarrow \text{ZnSO}_4(aq) + \text{H}_2(g) Zn(s)+H2​SO4​(aq)→ZnSO4​(aq)+H2​(g)

They wanted to determine how changing the concentration of sulfuric acid affects the rate of reaction. The teacher provided a solution labelled 100% sulfuric acid.

All experiments were performed at room temperature by timing how long it took to collect 50 cm3 of hydrogen gas.

a.

The students kept the amount of zinc constant by using exactly 5 zinc granules in each experiment. State two other physical properties of the zinc granules that should be kept constant in each experiment.

[2]
b.

The table below shows what each student wrote down in their lab notebook:

  • Student A (Reference): 'I used 5 zinc granules with 100% sulfuric acid and collected 50 cm3 of gas in 25 seconds.'
  • Student B: 'In my experiment there were 5 zinc granules and 80% sulfuric acid and I collected 50 cm3 of hydrogen gas by the end of the experiment.'
  • Student C: 'The zinc granules and 60% sulfuric acid formed 50 cm3 of gas in 42 seconds.'
  • Student D: 'I used 40% sulfuric acid and 5 zinc granules. It took 65 seconds to collect the gas.'
  • Student E: 'I collected 50 cm3 of gas in 80 seconds when I used 5 zinc granules.'

Identify the missing piece of information that each student (B, C, D, and E) failed to record.

[4]
c.

The students repeated the experiment using a different supply of sulfuric acid. Their results are shown in the table below:

Percentage concentration of sulfuric acid (%)Time to collect 50 cm3 of gas (s)Rate of reaction (cm3/s\text{cm}^3/\text{s}cm3/s)
1090.90.55
3071.40.70
5041.71.20
7029.41.70
9022.72.20
10020.82.40

Identify which concentration has an anomalous rate of reaction.

[1]
d.

Suggest two experimental errors that could have caused this anomalous result.

[2]
e.

Using a linear best-fit trend for the other five data points, estimate the rate of reaction at an acid concentration of 60%.

[2]

Rates of reaction Questions

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