EPI – Rates of Reaction – Stuart San
Title
The Effect of Surface Area of Calcium Carbonate on the Rate of Reaction with Hydrochloric
Acid
Aim
To investigate the effects of surface area of calcium carbonate in a reaction with hydrochloric
acid.
Research Question
What is the effect of surface area of calcium carbonate, while using 2.5 grams of different sizes
of the marble chips, in a reaction with 10 mL of 3M hydrochloric acid?
Hypothesis
If the surface area of the calcium carbonate is increased by decreasing the size of the 2.5 grams
of calcium carbonate chips, then the reaction rate with 10 mL of 3M hydrochloric acid will be
quicker because of the higher chance of successful collisions created with a higher surface area
to volume ratio.
Independent Variable
The independent variable is the surface area of the calcium carbonate which will be altered by
having different sizes of the marble chips, but the mass of these chips will all be 2.5 grams.
There was a range of small, medium, and large sized marble chips which was chosen to affect the
overall surface area to volume ratio of the calcium carbonate.
Dependent Variable
The variable being measured is the change in temperature of the reaction over the time of 2
minutes or 120 seconds. This will be done with a thermometer at 20 second intervals and
measured in degrees Celsius(◦C).
Control Variables
The amount and concentration of the hydrochloric acid will be kept constant as well as the
amount of the calcium carbonate with a mass of 2.5 grams each. This mass was kept controlled
by using a top-pan balance to measure the weight of the marble chips. The concentration of the
Hydrochloric acid was kept at a Molarity of 3 and at an amount of 10 mL each. This was
measured with a measuring cylinder.
Uncontrolled variables
The temperature of the room was a factor in this experiment which could not be controlled. This
is evident in the varying temperatures of the 10 mL of 3M hydrochloric acid before reacting with
the 2.5 grams of calcium carbonate. This was monitored with the use of a thermometer in
degrees Celsius(◦C).
Materials
2.5grams of calcium carbonate (each for 6 trials)
10mL 3M Hydrochloric Acid (each for 6 trials)
100mL beaker x1
Stopwatch x1
Thermometer x1
Test tube x3
Top-pan balance x1
Test tube rack x1
100 mL Measuring cylinder x1
Paper towels x1
500mL Waste Beaker x1
Method
1. Place a beaker on top of a top-pan balance and tare it.
2. Place some large pieces of calcium carbonate into the beaker and measure 2.5 grams.
3. Pour 10mL of 3M Hydrochloric acid into a 100 mL measuring cylinder and then pour it
into a test tube. Keep this test tube in the test tube rack.
4. Use a thermometer to measure the temperature of the Hydrochloric acid before the
reaction occurs.
5. Record this in the results table.
6. Place the measured amount of calcium carbonate into the test tube of Hydrochloric acid
and start the stopwatch.
7. Record the temperature of the reaction into the results table after 20 seconds. Repeat this
for 120 seconds at 20 second intervals.
8. Take out the thermometer and clean it with a paper towel.
9. Pour the reaction into a waste beaker and wash the test tube.
10. Repeat steps 1-9 for the medium and small sizes of the calcium carbonate chips and do
two trials for each size.
11. Calculate the average of these trials and record results in a table.
Results
Figure 1.
Effect of Surface Area Of 2.5g Calcium Carbonate
On Reaction Rate with 10mL of 3M Hydrochloric
Acid
28
Temeprature(◦C)
27
26
25
24
23
22
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Time(seconds)
Small Linear (Small) Medium
Linear (Medium) Large Linear (Large)
Effect of Surface Area of Calcium Carbonate on Reaction Rate with Hydrochloric Acid
Figure 2.
Temperature(◦
C)
Mediu
Small m Large
Sized Sized Sized
Marbl Marbl Marbl
e e e
Chips Chips Chips
Time(secon
ds) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2
0 25 24 24 24 25 24
20 26 26 26 25 25 25
40 27 27 26 26 26 25
60 27 27 27 26 26 25
80 27 27 27 27 26 27
100 28 27 27 27 26 26
120 28 27 27 27 26 26
Figure 3.
Average Temperature of Reaction(◦C)
Time Small sized Marble Medium Sized Large Sized
(Seconds) Chips Marble Chips Marble Chips
0 24.5 24 24.5
20 26 25.5 25
40 27 26 25.5
60 27 26.5 25.5
80 27 27 25.5
100 27.5 27 26
120 27.5 27 26
It was observed that the large chips of calcium carbonate had a slower reaction rate than marble
chips which were smaller even though the mass of the calcium carbonate was the same. The
small calcium carbonate chips reacted the quickest with the 10mL of 3M Hydrochloric acid. The
reaction with the smaller calcium carbonate chips also showed bubbles earlier and gained more
temperature over a shorter time period.
Discussion
The results show that when the size of the calcium carbonate chips was increased and the surface
area to volume ratio of the calcium carbonate was increased, the rate of reaction was quicker, and
the temperature of the reaction increased at a quicker rate. The data showed that the small piece
of calcium carbonate changed from an average temperature of 24.5◦C to 27.5◦C compared to the
large calcium carbonate chips which started with an average of 24.5◦C and ended at an average
of 26◦C. The rate of reaction was proven to be slower with the use of larger calcium carbonate
chips with a smaller surface area to volume ratio. The trendline of the smaller calcium carbonate
chips is also higher along the graph than the trendline of medium and large sized marble chips.
These results and trends have been proven as when the size of the calcium carbonate chips was
larger, the surface area to volume ratio were less and when the size of the calcium carbonate
chips was smaller, the surface area to volume ratio is larger which supports the collision theory.
If the surface area of a reactant is increased, then more particles are exposed to the other reactant
and there is a greater chance of particles colliding, which leads to more successful collisions per
second and therefore the rate of reaction increases (BBC Bitesize, 2018) because of the collision
theory. In this experiment the reactants are the calcium carbonate chips and the Hydrochloric acid
and the products are calcium chloride, carbon dioxide and water.
CaCO3(s) + 2HCl(aq) → CaCl2(aq) + CO2(l) + H2O(g) (Scandiffio et al., 2018)
The graphs also have a steeper gradient at the beginning of the reaction and will become horizontal soon.
As the mass of reactants will always equal the mass of the products, the rate of reaction will eventually
become horizontal.
An example of the effect of the surface area to volume ratio in life would be the need for a large surface
area to volume ratio in somatic cells. This is needed as the transport of materials needs to be efficient into
and out of cells to ensure that the tissues, organs, and systems of the body work quickly.
Errors which were found in this experiment were that the measurement of the materials may have been
inaccurate. This is a human error as mistakes were made during the experiment which may have affected
the overall result of the trials and tests. A random error made during the experiment was the temperature
of the room. This affected the temperature of the Hydrochloric acid before the reaction with calcium
carbonate. This is evident as the average temperature of the reaction with the small calcium carbonate
chips was 24.5◦C when the average temperature of the reaction with the medium calcium carbonate chips
was 24◦C. The overall change in the temperature as caused by the reaction may have differed slightly.
Improvements to be made would be that the measurements should be measured with more accuracy and
the temperature of the room should be consistently controlled.
Conclusion
Analysis of the results achieved the inference that a change in surface area to volume ratio affects the
reaction rate. The hypothesis is proved in the experiment as when the surface area to volume ratio of the
calcium carbonate was increased as the size was decreased, the rate of reaction with Hydrochloric acid
occurred at a faster rate. The change from 2.5 grams of small marble chips to 2.5 grams of large marble
chips caused an average difference in temperature of the reaction with 10mL of 3M Hydrochloric acid
from 27.5◦C to 26◦C over the course of 2 minutes. These results therefore support the collision theory,
aim and hypothesis of the experiment.
Bibliography
15.2: The Rate of a Chemical Reaction. (2016, April 4). Chemistry LibreTexts.
[Link]
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Scandiffio, P., Mantilla, T., Amaral, F., Fabiana França, Basting, R., & Turssi, C. (2018). Anti-erosive effect of calcium
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