GEORGIA MILITARY COLLEGE

NATURAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

ONLINE CAMPUS

LABORATORY 2 - CHEMICAL KINETICS

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STUDENT NUMBER

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PROFESSORS TITLE AND NAME

Introduction

A chemical reaction occurs when reagents collide with each other, resulting in a product. For collision to take place, the molecules in both reagents should have sufficient kinetic energy, which is defined as the energy that a particle in motion possesses. A primary determinant of kinetic energy is the velocity of the molecules in the reacting reagents the higher the velocity the greater the energy. Velocity, also referred to as the reaction rate, is a measure of how fast a chemical reaction takes place. It may be affected by different factors, including temperature and the initial concentration of the reacting agents.

Taking the generic chemical reaction:

A + BC ?AC + B

Figure 1: Generic Single Displacement Reaction.

Average reaction rate for the reaction described in Figure 1 is as follows:

Average Reaction rate = -?[A] / ?t

Where ?[A] is the difference between the initial and final reagent concentrations, while ?t is the difference between the initial and final time taken for the reaction.

This laboratory sought to realize the following objectives:

i) To enhance understanding of reaction rates in chemical processes

ii) To improve ability to accurately calculate reaction rate from experimental data.

iii) To understand the effects of temperature and concentration on reaction rate.

The reaction rates for two reagents will be observed, recorded, and compared at different concentrations and temperatures. The general hypothesis is that increasing temperature and reagent concentrations will increase the reaction rate of a chemical process by increasing the kinetic energy of the individual molecules in the reactants.

Materials and Methods

Preparing the Lab

1. Click on the Reactions and Rates Link on the Course home page to load the simulation for lab 2.

2. Accept the prompt to download the Java file to be used in the simulation on the computers desktop.

3. Once the simulation environment launches, select the tab labeled Rate Experiments, choose the appropriate chemical reaction, and input the initial concentrations of the two reagents (10 for reagent A) and (20 for reagent AB).

4. Check the Show Stopwatch box at the bottom right area of the screen and select the AB molecule option. At this point,...

Click Begin Experiment to initiate the lab and immediately start the stopwatch.

2. Monitor changes in the Current Amounts section for both reagent A and AB. This is the indicator of concentration. Stop the stopwatch immediately the Current Amount values for both A and AB appear in the Current Amounts section.

3. Tabulate the time taken for the reaction in table 1 in the row containing the respective concentrations for both reagents.

4. Run the experiment again to be sure of the results.

5. Change the initial Concentration to 15 for...

…same time to minimize the risk of errors (Wypich, 2024).

Conclusion

This experiment sought to test the effect of reagent concentration and temperature on the rate of chemical reactions. The procedure entailed testing the time taken to complete the chemical reaction between reagents A and BC at three different concentrations of reagent A (10M, 15M, and 20M). The average reaction rate was obtained by dividing the change in concentration (?[A]) by the change in reaction time (?t) as measured by a stopwatch. The procedure was first carried out in a cold setting and replicated in a hot setting that was characterized by higher temperatures. In line with the hypotheses stated at the start of the lab, the results showed that increasing the concentration of reagents and temperature both increased the rate of reaction. A comparison of the average reaction rate for the cold and hot settings at the three different concentration levels showed significantly higher reaction rates in the hot setting, which showed that temperature increases caused subsequent increases in reaction rates. The conclusion was that increasing either temperature or concentration of reactants increased collision among the particles in the reagent, leading to an increase in the rate of chemical reaction. Future laboratories could improve the accuracy of the procedure by repeating the trials multiple times to ensure the consistency of collected data and synchronizing the clocks to start and stop…