Hi everyone. I'm a student in chemistry 12 at a high school.

I was recently assigned a pretty difficult and confusing Chemistry 12 project. We are currently studying the effects on rate of a reaction (temperature, concentration, surface area, catalysts, and the nature of reactants)
My assignment is to design and eventually do a lab that clearly demonstrates each factor. My chemistry teacher told our class to find different common classroom chemicals, react them, record data about the rates of reactions, and graph the graphable results.

I just can't think of a good, solid reaction that will work well under classroom settings. I want a reaction that is easily done in a classroom. A reaction that can enable me to easily record the data and thus do the lab report and graphs easier will result in a good mark for the report. (and isn't that what we all want)

So - if you guys can give me any good classroom chemical reactions that would be great. Any tips or help on lab reports of this nature will greatly be appreciated. Thanks all!

Heres the actual report:

quote:

CHEMISTRY 12

LAB : FACTORS AFFECTING THE RATE OF A CHEMICAL REACTION

Introduction:

There are five factors that affect the rate of a chemical reaction
Concentration
Temperature
Surface area
The presence of a catalyst
The nature of the reactants.

In this experiment you will determine quantitatively how any two of these factors affect a reaction of your choice.

Task:

Choose a reaction for which there is some easily observable, measurable change. Design an experiment to determine how any two of the above factors will affect your reaction. Pay particular attention to Data collection and analysis. You should be able to make conclusions about how the factors you chose affected the rate of the reaction.

Again, thanks for any help.

Kav

hmmm...This is on the razors edge of doing your homework for you vs helping. Note that you need to pick only 2 of the 5 to satisfy your task requirment.

Rates of reaction are tough and sometimes require fancy equipment. picking a 'slow' and safe reaction is not easy

What of rust?
You can observe the rate of reaction on a nail for example vs filings from the same nail.

Concentration.. Can you seal off some of your iron from all the avialable air limit the qty available to your sample vs open on the desk.

Temperture...do things rust faster at Room temp or in a pot of boiling water or flame. Is salt or water a catylst or reactant?

How would you determine the rate of reaction?
is there a mass change of some sort.
Volumetric change of gases that can be easily measured?

What of food chemistry.. Yeast rising and generating CO2.. Does the qty of sugar make a difference. Does temperature make a difference

What happens to your graphs if you forget to convert to degrees Kelvin?

Bonus type answers would be to be able to define for your instructor what order of reaction you are working with based on the collected data.

Can you set up an experiment to control how much oxygen is available to a candle to burn?
what happens with a small wick.. no wick..
many wicks.. again the mass before burning an after..

Coffee cup calorimeter to measure how much heat is given off during a reaction...
Acid base neutralization for example..
what happens if you don't have enough base
to neutralize all the acid or you have too much?

Stinky...can you make food rot faster at room temp or refrigerated....what happens with a catalyst like meat tenderizers

hope this gets you started