An investigation into the factors affecting the rate of a reaction: The write up of an experiment using Sodium Thiosulphate and hydrochloric acid

Skill Area P: Planning

What I going to investigate is how different factors affect the rate of the chemical reaction of Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric acid. In which a precipitate is formed and causes the solution to become opaque. They react as in the equation below:

Sodium Thiosulphate + hydrochloric acid -->; sodium chloride + sulphur + sulphur

dioxide+

Water

Na2S2O3(aq) + 2HCl(aq) -> 2NaCl(aq) + S(s) + SO2(g) + H2O(l)

I plan to change the concentration of the Sodium Thiosulphate by diluting it with water but I plan to keep the same volume of liquid in the beaker to ensure that it is a fair test because the volume of liquid in the beaker may affect the reaction time. Also in order to make it a fair test I am going to keep the following variables the same: the temperature; the volume of the hydrochloric acid; the same distance between the light sensor and the solution; the same distance from the light source and the solution; the voltage going into the light bulb; same concentration of acid; same beaker and apparatus; and the same total volume.

Hydrochloric acid (in beaker) reacting with ammoni...

English: 30% hydrochloric acid

label for dangeous goods, class 8

I have identified the following hazards and I will deal with them as shown below:

Hazard 1: Dealing with Acids -- I will wear safety specs to protect my eyes and care will be taken while handling the acid.

Hazard 2: Electrical Equipment - I will not touch the electrical equipment while handling liquids and care will be taken to make sure that all electrical equipment will not come into contact with liquids.

METHOD

Equipment:

A beaker

Computer

Lab-Pak

Light Source (I used a 6V bulb)(Surround the light with a ring of black cardboard to focus the light

Light sensor (again surround the sensor with black cardboard to irradiate light from other...