Some metals, such as magnesium, react rapidly with acids.

Magnesium reacts with hydrochloric acid to produce

magnesium chloride and hydrogen gas.
The word equation is:
magnesium + hydrochloric acid
magnesium chloride + hydrogen

The chemical equation is:

Mg + 2 HCl

MgCl2 + H2

Other metals, such as lead, need to be heated to get them

to react with acids such as hydrochloric acid.

EXPERiMEnT 3.3

Neutralisation reactions
aim

Carefully empty and rinse out your glassware and

repeat the whole experiment, this time do not add
any universal indicator but use the same amount of
sodium hydroxide as you did before.

pour the solution into a petri dish and leave open

in a safe place in the laboratory for a few hours. as
the solution evaporates, record your observations.

to investigate neutralisation reactions.

Materials
1 m hydrochloric acid
test tubes and test tube rack
1 m sodium hydroxide solution
Dropping pipettes
10 ml measuring cylinder
Universal indicator solution
100 ml beaker
petri dish
microscope or magnifying glass
ensure that you wear safety goggles at all times
during this experiment and avoid skin contact
with the hydrochloric acid and the sodium
hydroxide solution.

Method
1

Using the measuring cylinder, transfer 5.0 ml of

hydrochloric acid into the beaker and then rinse
out the measuring cylinder with water.

add 2 drops of universal indicator solution to

the acid.

pour 10 ml of the sodium hydroxide solution into

the measuring cylinder.

Using the dropping pipette, add the sodium

hydroxide from the measuring cylinder to the acid
in the beaker.

stop adding the sodium hydroxide when the acid

has been neutralised. (the indicator will turn green
at this point.)

record how much sodium hydroxide you needed

to add.

Results
present your results in a table.

Discussion
1

Why was it essential to rinse

the measuring cylinder with
water after it was used?

Why was the experiment

repeated without the
indicator?

how could you produce the

solid salt more quickly in the
last step of the method?

should you taste the

product of this reaction to
check whether salt has been
produced? explain your
reasoning.

What do you notice about

the shape of the salt crystals
produced? What can you
infer from this about the
arrangement of the particles
inside the salt crystals?

Conclusion
What have you observed about neutralisation
reactions?

Unit 3.2 hOW DO We DesCriBe ChemiCal reaCtiOns?

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