Chemical Reaction Lab Report

Chemical reactions are a part of everyday lives. Whether it is the burning of propane at a kitchen stove, or washing detergent reacting with dirt stains, chemical reactions are useful tools that have widespread applications. With so many reactions assisting our everyday activities, it is important that ways to optimise reaction rates are investigated. “Reaction rate, the speed at which a chemical reaction proceeds… may be defined in terms of the amounts of the reactants consumed or products formed in a unit of time,” (K. Laidler, May 17 2018). The easiest ways to speed up a reaction include increasing the temperature, pressure, agitation, surface area exposed to reaction, and concentration of the reacting species. This is in accordance to collision
For the purpose of this report, the two factors being investigated are temperature and concentration. The reaction that is being investigated is the reaction between sodium bicarbonate and hydrochloric acid. The balanced chemical equation is as follows:
NaHCO3 + HCl -> NaCl + CO2 + H2O
Sodium bicarbonate, also known as baking soda, is used as an antacid to treat indigestion and heartburn. Hydrochloric acid is a widely utilised acid, used for everything from making steel for bridges, to aiding digestion in the human body. It is a strong and corrosive acid, and comes in a variety of concentrations in water. It is because of this that the physical properties of hydrochloric acid, including melting point and boiling points, will vary wildly with different concentrations of solution. When in solution, the reactants split into two ions. The HCl, splits into H+ and Cl- ions, and the sodium bicarb splits into Na+ ions and HCO3- (bicarb) ions.