Rate of Reaction Lab
Name:________________________________
Date:______________
You are a chemist for Shell Oil Company. You have been assigned an investigation
on how temperature impacts the rate of a chemical reaction. You will perform an
investigation which will test how temperature impacts the rate of a chemical
reaction. Before you begin the investigation, you will be asked to identify the
independent, dependent and control (2) variables that will be used in this
investigation. After you have completed your investigation, you will be asked
compare your findings with other lab groups in the class and record that
information on a data table. Afterwards, you will find the class average. You will
then create a bar graph based on the class average.
Question:
Does Temperature affect the rate of a chemical reaction?
Hypothesis (remember it needs to be an “if, then” statement):
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Materials:
Vinegar (3 samples: refrigerated, room temperature, and boiling)
Baking Soda
Erlanger flasks (3)
Balloon3 (3)
Graduated cylinder
½ teaspoon measuring spoon
Funnel
Stopwatch (3)
Variables:
Independent
Dependent
Control (list 2)
Procedure:
1. Using the funnel, add ½ teaspoon of baking soda to each balloon (two people
may be needed for this; one person to hold the balloon open and the other
person to put the baking soda inside of the balloon).
2. Using the graduated cylinder, measure 10 mL of refrigerated vinegar and
pour into a flask. Repeat this process with the room temperature and boiling
vinegar samples and pour each into their own separate flasks. You should
have a flask with refrigerated vinegar, a flask with room temperature vinegar
and a flask with boiling vinegar.
3. Carefully fit the mouth of each of the balloon over one of the flasks (be
careful not to drop the baking soda into the vinegar yet).
4. Once the balloon is fitted snugly on the nozzle, hold up the balloon and allow
the baking soda to fall into the vinegar. Start the stopwatch.
5. Observe the chemical reaction and effect on the balloon.
6. When the balloon is fully inflated, stop the stopwatch.
7. Record (in seconds) the time it takes for each balloon to inflate on the Data
Table found below.
Experiment and Observe:
Record your observations on the Data Table.
Temperature of the Vinegar
Time for the Vinegar to Inflate
the Balloon (in seconds)
Boiling
Room
Temperature
Refrigerated
Class Averages:
Boiling
Room
Temperature
Refrigerated
Lab Group 1
Lab Group 2
Lab Group 3
Lab Group 4
Lab Group 5
Lab Group 6
Lab Group 7
Lab Group 8
Class
Average
Organize and Analyze: Create a bar graph from the averages recorded in the
data table.
Conclusion:
1. Restate the problem: change the question into a sentence.
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2. Restate your hypothesis.
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3. Explain briefly what was done (use own words, do not copy procedure,
summarize it)
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4. Conclude whether your hypothesis was proven true or not true.
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5. For the class investigation, we used each lab table as a trial. When scientist are
performing experiments, they may have as many as 100 trials for an
experiment. How does using a graph to represent the averages for the data help
scientists interpret their data?
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