Module CCE 1102 Physical Theory

.Data Sheet
Experiment P6 Determination of the Activation Energy of a Reaction

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Brand of the tablets that you are going to study: Steradent

Remember to use the scientific notation when writing non-integer numbers and limit the number of
significant figures to three at the most (e.g., write 3.21 x 10 -3 and not 0.0032123). Do not use a
pencil to report your raw experimental data

Water temperature (°C) 15.00 20.00 28.00 46.00

Time “t” needed 490 250 197 87
for the dissolution (s)
Your estimation of the precision 20 18 16 12
“t”on t (s)
Inverse of the absolute 3.47x10-3 3.41x10-3 3.32x10-3 3.13x10-3
temperature (K-1)
k = 1 / t (s-1) 2.04x10-3 4.00x10-3 5.08x10-3 1.15 x10-2
ln(k/s-1) (dimensionless) -6.19 -5.52 -5.28 -4.47

[ln(kmax)-ln(k)] (dimensionless) 4.17 x10-2 7.47x10-2 8.47 x10-2 1.48x10-1

[ln(k)-ln(kmin)] (dimensionless) 4.00x10-2 6.95x10-2 7.80x10-2 1.29x10-1

Water temperature (°C) 53.00 65.00 72.00 99.00

Time “t” needed 62 53 44 37
for the dissolution (s)
Your estimation of the precision 10 7 4 2
“t”on t (s)
Inverse of the absolute 3.07x10-3 2.95x10-3 2.90x10-3 2.69x10-3
temperature (K-1)
k = 1 / t (s-1) 1.61 x10-2 1.89 x10-2 2.27 x10-2 2.70 x10-2
ln(k/s-1) (dimensionless) -4.13 -3.97 -3.78 -3.61

[ln(kmax)-ln(k)] (dimensionless) 1.76x10-1 1.42x10-1 9.50x10-2 5.56 x10-2

[ln(k)-ln(kmin)] (dimensionless) 1.50x10-1 1.24x10-1 8.70x10-2 5.26x10-2

[10 MARKS]
 Module CCE 1102 Physical Theory
Plot of the rate of dissolution as a function of temperature
Plot a graph of k against the temperature in °C. Does the rate of dissolution increase with
temperature?
Yes, as temperature increases from 15 to 99 °C, The rate of dissolution (k) increases from 0.00204
to 0.0270.

Graph showing rate of dissolution against the

temperature in oC
120

100
f(x) = 3054.05615714312 x + 8.76362424339738
Temperature/ oC

80

60

40

20

0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
Rate of dissolution(k)

[10 MARKS]

Calculation of the activation energy of the dissolution of the tablet in water

Plot a graph of ln(k/s-1) against the inverse of the absolute temperature. Plot a trendline through the
data points and use the Linest Function to determine the error in the slope.

Slope of the trendline: -2.77x10-4 (in K)

Error of trendline: ______________3.43 x10-4 _______ (in K)

[25 MARKS]

Use the slope of the trendline and the ideal gas constant (R = 8.314 J K-1 mol-1), to determine the
activation energy, (show all working out):
 Module CCE 1102 Physical Theory

Activation Energy = 2.31x10-6 (in kJ mol-1)

Error in Activation Energy = 2.85 x10-6__________ (in kJ mol-1).
[20 MARKS]

Discussion
1. Why was the beaker of water not stirred during dissolution?
Stirring increases the rate of dissolution by breaking up the solute particles to allow for greater
interaction with fresh solvent molecules. If the mixture is not stirred then there remains high
concentration and low concentration parts of solute, but if mixture is stirred the undissolved solute
comes into contact with lower concentrations of solute and dissolves faster. The beaker is not
stirred as it would make it more difficult to tell when fizzing/dissolution has exactly stopped due to
the swirling movement of the solute. If a stirring rod is used it is difficult to stir each solution at
exactly the same speed.

[5 MARKS]

2. Discuss whether or not it would have been good to choose temperature between 30 and 45
degrees only.
No, the range of temperatures is too small (15 oC). The sample size prevents proper estimation
and would not have shown how different temperatures influences the rate of reaction. A large
range is needed to allow better extrapolation of data so the rate of reaction can be compared at
different temperatures.

[5 MARKS]

3. The magnitude of the error, Δt is greater for the dissolution at lower temperature. Why is
this the case?
 Module CCE 1102 Physical Theory
At lower temperatures the tablet takes longer to dissolve, the fizzing stops but it is hard to tell
exactly when the dissolution ends as the tablet continues to crumble into smaller pieces. At higher
temperatures the dissolution is rapid and more obvious as the tablet completely disappears and
fizzing stops completely.
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4. The error bars correspond to the precision k on the measurement of k. Does your
trendline pass through all these error bars? (comment)
Yes, from my graph the trendline passes through 3 error bars. In most experiments the
trendline should pass through all most of the error bars, however our data values do not lie
directly on trendline, with the first and last values deviating most from the trendline.

[5 MARKS]

5. Why were error bars plotted for the y-axis but not for the x-axis?
Because the temperature was the independent variable and its value was recorded
accurately from the thermometer reading. The time was measured using a stopwatch and
has a degree of error due to reaction times and difficulty in recording exactly when the
tablet is considered dissolved. No error is required for the temperature, only the time
values. The error bars show how precise the measurement was and how much uncertainty
there is from the recorded value.

[5 MARKS]

6. Provided the pure compounds of which the tablet is made are available, describe a simple
set of experiments to determine which of step 1.a, b, or c (see manual) is the rate
determining-step?
For each pure component carry out similar dissolution at a single temperature, e.g. 25oC.
Put pure compound in water and start stopwatch, stop time when solid is completely
dissolved and bubbles of CO2 gas have ceased.. Record the time taken for compound to
dissolve from solid to aqueous solution. The component that takes the slowest time is the
rate determining step of the reaction.

[5 MARKS]

7. The Arrhenius equation as used in this experiment can be used for zero order reactions
such as the dissolution shown here. The equation for a zero-order reaction is Rate = k [A] 0.
 Module CCE 1102 Physical Theory
Discuss why these reactions are suitable for using in this experiment on the Arrhenius
Equation.
This reaction is actually zero order as the rate depends on how much of the surface of the
tablet is exposed to water. As the concentration is raised to the power of zero the rate is
directly proportional to the rate constant k. The concentration is kept constant as the same
volume of water is used in each experiment (200ml) therefore changing the concentration
will have no impact on the rate of reaction, however a very small volume of water will mean
the surface of the tablet is exposed to less fresh water thus decreasing rate of reaction.q

[5 MARKS]