SBA #5

Title:
Date: 29/11/20
Skill: Planning and Designing

Problem Statement: Mr. George notices that the kettle has white deposits in it and was about
to clean it with soap and water. His son, Timmy, a chemistry student suggests he use muriatic
acid (hydrochloric acid) to clean the kettle while his wife suggests vinegar. Plan and design
an experiment to see which of the two proposes the better cleaning agent.

Hypothesis: The difference in the acidic nature of muriatic acid and vinegar designates
muriatic acid as the better and faster cleaning agent.

Aim: To investigate which is the better cleaning agent for limescale between vinegar and
muriatic acid.

Materials/Apparatus:
Vinegar
Muriatic acid
Calcium Carbonate
Water
2 Beakers
Stopwatch
Spatula

Procedure:
1. In the beaker, mix 25cm^3 of water with 25cm^3 of hydrochloric acid
2. Add three spatulas of calcium carbonate to the beaker and record the time it takes for
the carbonate to stop reacting.
3. In the second beaker, mix 25cm^3 of water and 25cm^3 of vinegar.
4. Add three spatulas of calcium carbonate to the diluted solution and record the time it
takes for the reaction to stop.
5. Record the data in a suitable table.

Variables:
Manipulated variable- calcium carbonate
Controlled variable- volume of water, vinegar and hydrochloric acid
Responding Variable- speed of reaction

Data to be collected:

Solution Speed of reaction

 Dilute hydrochloric acid

Dilute Vinegar

Expected Results:
The acidic nature of vinegar (acetic acid) and hydrochloric acid is what allows a
reaction to take place with the carbonate. The more acidic the solution, the faster it will react
with the carbonate, and so the less acidic the solution, the slower the reaction. It is expected
that the hydrochloric acid which has a lower pH than vinegar, more acidic, will have a faster
speed of reaction. If this is so then the hypothesis is true.

Limitations:
1. The mass of calcium carbonate added was not weighed which may have
affected the rate of reaction.