31/3/2019

Monica Sisourath
Science MYP 5
Adam Knight

Effect of surface area on the rate of reaction

Factor
How does surface area affect the rate of reaction?

Aim
Find out if a bigger surface area has a faster reaction time than a smaller surface area.

Background information

A reaction rate is the rate in which a chemical reaction occurs. (Britannica.com, 2017)

Collision theory is a theory which explains how and why chemical reactions occur and why reactions rates
differ from one another. It states that energy is needed in collisions to produce a reaction; for a reaction to
occur, there must be energy within the atom to make them collide together creating a chemical reaction (BBC,
2014).

One way the reaction rate can be increased by increasing the surface area of a substance. The more particles
exposed to the substance in the experiment, the faster the reaction. Crushing the material into a powder will
provide a larger surface area than if the material was in a clump. The finer a substance is, the faster the
reaction rate will be.

In my experiment 3 different surface areas of calcium carbonate will be reacting with the hydrochloric acid. The
grades of calcium carbonate which will be used will be crushed, large chips and smaller chips, all of 18g.
These grades of calcium carbonate reaction times will be compared to each other to see which one completely
dissolves faster.

Experiment formula:
calcium carbonate + hydrochloric acid calcium chloride + carbon dioxide + water

CaCo³ + 2HCI CaCl² + H2O + CO² (Chemguide, 2013)

Hypothesis

When the surface area increases, the reaction rate will speed up and when the surface area is decreased the
reaction rate will slow down. Larger surface area increases the contact between reacting particles which
increases the chances of successful collisions. When the calcium carbonate is in a chip, the hydrochloric acid
can only react with the outside of the substance and chew away until there is nothing left, when the surface
area is increased by using powdered calcium carbonate there is more atoms for the acid to easily react with
compared to the smaller surface area chip.
31/3/2019
Monica Sisourath
Science MYP 5
Adam Knight

Variables

Table 1: Independent, dependent variables in the experiment and how they are manipulated
Variable Details How it will be manipulated

independent Surface area of The amount of calcium carbonate that will

Calcium be used in each trial and experiment will be
carbonate measured to 2 grams for both the powder
and the small chips, this ensures that the
experiment is being done with the same
amount of calcium carbonate in order to
gain specific and reliable wanted results.
The powdered substance has more
surface area, the chips have less.

dependent The time calcium This will be measured using a stopwatch

carbonate takes that will be started when the carbonate is
to dissolve in dropped into the acid and stopped when
hydrochloric acid the carbonate is finished dissolving

Table 2: Controlled variables in the experiment and how they are manipulated
Controlled Variable How it will be manipulated/controlled

Temperature, amount and
concentration of hydrochloric
acid
The temperature of the hydrochloric acid was controlled
because we made the choice to do the experiment in a room
with a stable temperature and it was done all in one day,
decreasing the chances that the temperature changed in the
room.

The amount of hydrochloric acid for each trial was measured

at 50 ml using a measuring cylinder.

We used hydrochloric acid at 0.5 moles of concentration

throughout the experiment, this was measured prior to the
experiment and kept in a labeled bottle.

Amount (g) of calcium The amount of calcium carbonate for both the chips and
carbonate powder was measured at 2 grams using a scale and petri
dishes. We first measured the weight of the petri dishes,
added the carbonate and then subtracted the weight of the
original weight of the dishes to get the exact weight of the
31/3/2019
Monica Sisourath
Science MYP 5
Adam Knight

calcium carbonate.

Size of beaker holding The size of the beaker we used for the whole experiment
reaction were 250 ml beakers

Materials
- Stopwatch x 9
- Calcium Carbonate: large chips, Small chips, powder (All 2g each trial)
- Hydrochloric acid 0.5M
- Measuring cylinder
- Beakers ( <100ml) x 9
- Goggles

Safety Precautions

This experiment is not extremely dangerous as the only thing we need to be careful about is getting the
hydrochloric acid and calcium carbonate into your eyes, this is the reason we need to wear goggles to protect
our eyes. We should also be careful about getting too close to the materials when using the Calcium
Carbonate powder because it can easily be inhaled which would not be good for your health.

Method

1. Add 50 ml of hydrochloric acid to a beaker

2. Start the stopwatch at the same time as dropping 2 grams of the large chip into the hydrochloric acid,
wait for the chip (or powder) to fully dissolve
3. Turn off the stopwatch when the chip (or powder) has fully dissolved, do this for three trials
4. Repeat this experiment for the powder

Data and observations

Surface Area of Calcium Trial # Time (minutes) Average Observations (clarity of

Carbonate time mixture)

Powder 1 36 37.3 Fizzed up a lot at the

beginning, after 3 seconds
2 37 got cloudy and decreased
cloudiness from there
3 39
31/3/2019
Monica Sisourath
Science MYP 5
Adam Knight

Small chip 1 42 44.7 At the beginning it is very

cloudy making it hard to
2 44 know if all the bits have
dissolved
3 48
Got less cloudy at the end

Graph #1

Data Analysis

In the graph presented it can clearly be seen that the powder took less time to dissolve than the time it took the
small chips to dissolve. This already proves my hypothesis to be correct since the powder is the variable
representing larger surface area, my hypothesis being, the larger the surface area, the quicker the reaction
time. When the surface area is decreased such as in the small chip, the hydrochloric acid can only react with
the outside of the Calcium Carbonate, the HCI has to chew away at the substance until there is none left; with
31/3/2019
Monica Sisourath
Science MYP 5
Adam Knight

an increased surface area, the powder, there is more atoms to react with compared to the small surface area,
this also explains why during the beginning of the experiment when adding the powder to the HCI it fizzed up a
lot more than when the small chips were added. When the powder was added to the acid, the reaction
happened mainly during the first 30 seconds where the acid went very misty and fizzy. For the chips the
reaction was happening all throughout the experiment. It was clear that the reaction time for the powder was
faster with the average difference of 7.4 seconds.

Since we did 3 trials for each experiment I can say that the data is very reliable, the equipment we used was
reliable equipment and the same equipment was used in our experiment that has been used in other
experiments as well. We did the two experiments at the same time and there were two of us doing it so we
were not rushing because we each had something to do, making it easier and more efficient to carry out the
experiment. If someone else repeated my experiment I believe they would get similar results because the
steps are quite simple and very straight forward, they would have to make sure to measure the weight of the
calcium carbonate substances correctly using a grams scale and petri dishes, making sure to measure the
weight of the petri dishes and subtracting it to get the actual weight of the substance.

When looking at other experiments done our data are around the normal average numbers. One experiment
was done with hydrochloric acid of 1 moles instead of 0.5 moles, they got answers of 10 minutes + for the
small chips and around 5 minutes for the powdered substance of CaCO3. Compared to the results of my
experiment the time it took was faster because they had a higher concentration of HCI, it only makes sense
that our experiment took a longer time because the concentration of HCI was 0.5 moles lower, however, if
estimating the comparison of data it is similar, meaning my data is reliable compared experiments done in the
past.

Discussion

Surface area is used in many real life scenarios around the world, for example the carbureted engines. A
carburetor is a tube that can be found in cars, trucks, buses, etc. It has valves that lets air and fuel flow
through, it mixes these two ingredients together in different amounts in order to adapt and suite a wide range of
driving conditions. When fuel goes through a carburetor engine it gets made into mist, this is because the mist
is a lot more explosive that just fuel itself. The mist has a bigger surface area because it is broken up into
smaller and freer particles so they can easily be reacted with whereas the fuel is a liquid making it hard to find
free particles to react with.
31/3/2019
Monica Sisourath
Science MYP 5
Adam Knight

Evaluation

We experienced some difficulties throughout the process of this experiment, we did not have access to enough
materials needed to complete the experiment the way we originally planned to. My original idea was to have
the hydrochloric acid at a concentration of 1 mole, instead we had to use 0.5 moles because we did not have
enough of the 1 mole HCI to finish the experiment. We also did not have large chips of calcium carbonate
which didn't allow us to do the experiment and compare the small chips, the large chips and powder all
together. The weight of the calcium carbonate we used was too little, I originally planned to use at least 8
grams but once again we did not have enough of the material to complete the experiment with three trials. I
decided that the reliability of the results were more important. Lessening the concentration and amount of
substance correspond equally.

Overall the validity of the hypothesis makes sense, my hypothesis was made clearly and precise, identifying
the independent and dependent values while clearly stating how and why I thought the reaction between larger
surface area and smaller surface area was going to change. Looking at other sites and experiments, my
hypothesis is similar to those of other people. I also have backed up my hypothesis with background
information and science; stating that with a larger surface area the reaction is quicker because there is more
atoms for the HCI acid to easily react with compared to the smaller surface area chip.

The validity of the method is good, as seen in Table 2: “Controlled variables in the experiment and how they
are manipulated” I have made sure to have all variables controlled at a reasonable and do-able way, making
this experiment suitable to do easily in school or at home. Although controlling the exact temperature to the
31/3/2019
Monica Sisourath
Science MYP 5
Adam Knight

decimal place is hard it would not have any big effect on the results in the experiment. When measuring the
grams of calcium carbonate the scale we used did not have decimal places and was one significant number so
the amount of calcium carbonate in each experiment could have possibly been different by one decimal place.
To gain more accurate measurements, using a scale with 3 significant figures would be helpful.

Table 5: Sources of error (weakness) in the investigation, their effects on the results and suggestions for
improvement.

Weakness of Effect on Results Suggestions for Improvement

Method

We used a low Lower concentration of HCI We must make sure we have

concentration of made the reaction much
HCI (0.5 moles) slower than it would have
been with a higher
concentration. A higher
concentration means there
are more of the reacting
molecules/ ions to form
reaction products.
enough equipment in order to
complete the experiment. Having
a concentration of around 1 - 1.5
moles would have been a lot more
effective because the reaction
would be quicker allowing us to
get the same results more
efficiently.

The slow reaction meant

that my partner and I had to
wait for over 30 minutes for
the reaction to finish. We did
not have results which
slowed down our work
progress on this report.

We had no This had no direct effect on Having compared the larger chip
comparison of a the results of the would have made the results
large chip of experiment, only that the clearer and then I would be able
Calcium Carbonate data we gathered could not to compare with more data in this
be evaluated or compared lab report.
to the reaction time of
calcium carbonate which
means our hypothesis is not
as strongly proved than if
we were to do the
comparison with the larger
chip of COCa3.
31/3/2019
Monica Sisourath
Science MYP 5
Adam Knight

Conclusion

To conclude, when surface area is increased the reaction rate is sped up. My hypothesis was correct and was
backed up by the results gained in this experiment looking at the reaction between calcium carbonate and
hydrochloric acid where the independent variable is the surface area of the calcium carbonate and the
dependant variable was the time it took to dissolve into HCI. From looking at table 1: “Independent, dependent
variables in the experiment and how they are manipulated”, we can see clearly the difference in speed of
reaction rate between the experiment with the powder and the experiment with the small chip; the reaction of
the powder was approximately 7.4 seconds. According to science these results are valid, the powder reacts
faster because it has a larger surface area meaning that there is more areas of contact between reactant
particles which in turn increases the chances of successful collisions. To improve this lab we could have
compared the reaction rate of a larger chip as well to have more data to backup the hypothesis.

WORKS CITED

● "Effect of Surface Area in an Experiment." UKEssays.com. 11 2018. All Answers Ltd. 03 2019
<https://www.ukessays.com/essays/chemistry/effect-surface-experiment-7019.php?vref=1>.
● GCSE Science. “GCSE Science/Rates of Reactions.” Wikibooks.org/ Open Books for an Open World,
Wikibooks, 16 Sept. 2017, en.wikibooks.org/wiki/GCSE_Science/Rates_of_Reactions.
● Laidler, Keith J. “Reaction Rates.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 17 May
2018, www.britannica.com/science/reaction-rate.
● Libretexts. “Factors That Affect Reaction Rates.” Chemistry LibreTexts, Libretexts, 23 Feb. 2019,
chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/Supplemental_
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