How Does Temperature And Surface Area Affect The Rate Of Reaction

In class we decided that the rate of a reaction increases when there are more collisions or when the activation energy is reduced. We then determined that there were four ways to increase the reaction rate: increase temperature, add a catalyst, increase surface area, and increase the concentration of reactants. The objective of this lab was to experimentally show how temperature and surface area impact the rate of reaction, so only two of these methods were tested. The evidence indicates that increasing surface area increases the reaction rate, and increasing temperature also increases the reaction rate. Temperature is the measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles. One of the requirements for particles to react by the Collision Theory is that they must have enough energy. If the temperature increases,
By crushing the Alka-Seltzer tablets to different extents, we were able to determine the effect of surface area on the rate of reaction. Trial 1 was the control and a full Alka-Seltzer tablet was placed in water at room temperature, 26.0 °C. It took 40.40 seconds for the tablet to react. Trial 4 was a crushed tablet reacted in water again at room temperature. It took 35.42 seconds for the reaction to end. Lastly, Trial 5 was a powder of the tablet reacted in water at room temperature once again. This time, it only took 20.22 seconds for the reaction to occur. As the surface area of the tablet increased, the time of the reaction decreased, so the reaction rate increased. The reaction was able to finish the fastest when there was more Alka-Seltzer particles in contact with the water, or when it was in its powdered form with the most surface area. Together this evidence proves that increasing surface area increases the reaction rate, and increasing temperature also increases the reaction