The rate at which Alka-Seltzer tablets reacts with water Essay examples

The rate at which Alka-Seltzer tablets reacts with water Statement of problem The aim of the experiment is to find out the rate at which Alka-Seltzer tablets react with water. The input variable that I will change is temperature. The output variable will be measured by the time it takes for the Alka-Seltzer tablets to dissolve. Input variables In this experiment there are two main factors that can affect the rate of the reaction. These key factors can change the rate of the reaction by either increasing it or decreasing it. These were considered and controlled so that they did not disrupt the success of the experiment. Temperature- As the temperature increases, the movements of molecules also increase. This is the kinetic theory. When the temperature is increased the particles gain more energy and therefore move around faster. This gives the particles more of a chance with other particles and with more force. The increase in temperature will therefore increase the rate of reaction. As this is the variable I am measuring I will not keep the temperature constant and therefore I will be varying it. Volume of water- if the volume of the water is increased there is more likelihood that there will be more collisions. This is because there are more water molecules in a given volume to react with the Alka-Seltzer tablets. However if there are sufficient water molecules to occupy the Alka-Seltzer tablets an increase in the water molecules will not alter the rate of the reaction. This is because the Alka-Seltzer tablets are already working as fast as they can to react with the water. The concentration can be increased by increasing the volume of the water used in the reaction to dissolve the Alka-Seltzer tablets in. To control the... ... different from what it should be. To solve this problem a thermostatic water bath could be used as stated above. * If the stop watch was stopped to early or late, again the overall reading would not be as accurate as it could have been. * It was almost impossible to tell when the Alka-Seltzer tablet had dissolved, each time the experiment was done. This was a huge problem for the experiment as this could have totally caused problems to the experiment. A special type of detector apparatus, which bleeped when the correct amount of Alka-Seltzer tablet dissolved, could improve this, each time the experiment was done. This would give us an extra measure of accuracy each time. Another way to improve the experiment and to produce consistent readings was to used distilled water. This is because the distilled water contains no impurities and therefore no hardness in water.