CHEMISTRY YEAR 09 Class activity sheet-19 (Factors affecting rates of reactions)

Lesson objectives:
By the end of this lesson, about 70% of the learners should be able to:
 Describe the effect of concentration, pressure, temperature and catalyst on rates of reactions.
 .
Recap of previous lesson:
What can you recall about the last lesson?
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Prompt for prior knowledge:

What do you know about factors affecting rates of reactions?

Factors affecting the rate of a chemical reaction

- Rate of reaction is affected by concentration, particle size, temperature and catalyst :

(A) Effect of change in concentration

Increasing the concentration of reactants, rate of reaction increases. This is because
increasing concentration means there are more solute particles per unit volume of the
solution which favours more effective collision resulting in an increase in speed of
reaction.

ACTIVITY 01:
(a) Which of the reactions (R1 or R2) below will be faster? Explain.
R1 R2
Reaction: ………………………………………….
Explanation: ………………………………………
…………………………………………………….
(b) The graphs below were obtained by varying the concentrations of acid (1M, 2M and 3M) for a
reaction between hydrochloric acid (HCl) and calcium carbonate (CaCO 3).
CaCO3(s) + 2HCl(aq) → CaCl2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l).

(i) Which of the reactions could be carried out using

hydrochloric acid of concentration 1 molar? Explain.
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(ii) Which of the reactions could be carried out using
hydrochloric acid of concentration 3 molar? Explain.
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Act sht 19 (Factors affecting rates of reactions) Page 1 of 3

 (B) Particle size (surface area)
Increasing the surface area increases rate of a reaction. This is because increasing surface
area means exposing many surfaces for collision resulting to an increase in rate of
reaction. Surface area can be increased by grinding a solid reactant to powder.

ACTIVITY 02:
(a) The logs of wood below are to be used to light fire. Which of the logs of wood (L1 or L2) below
will be first to finish burning? Explain.
L1 L2
Reaction: ………………………………………….
Explanation: ………………………………………
…………………………………………………….
(b) The graphs below were obtained by varying the particle size of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3) for a
reaction between hydrochloric acid and calcium carbonate.
CaCO3(s) + 2HCl(aq) → CaCl2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l).

G1 (i) Which of the graphs (G1 or G2) could be obtained from

a reaction using lumps of calcium carbonate? Explain.
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G2 (ii) Which of the graphs (G1 or G2) could be obtained from
a reaction using powder of calcium carbonate? Explain.
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(C) Effect of change in temperature

Increasing the temperature, increases rate of a reaction. This is because with increase in
temperature means that particles absorb energy, move faster with enough activation
energy and collide more often effectively per second. This results to an increase in rate
of reaction. Rate of reaction doubles with every 10oC increase in temperature.

ACTIVITY 03:
(a) The graphs below were obtained at two different temperatures (25ºC and 30ºC) for a reaction
between hydrochloric acid and calcium carbonate.
CaCO3(s) + 2HCl(aq) → CaCl2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l).
G1 (i) Which of the graphs (G1 or G2) could be obtained by
carrying out the reaction at 25oC? Explain.
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G2 ………………………………………………………………
(ii) Which of the graphs (G1 or G2) could be obtained by
carrying out the reaction at 30oC? Explain.
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Act sht 19 (Factors affecting rates of reactions) Page 2 of 3
 (D) Use of a catalyst
A catalyst is a substance which increases the rate of a chemical reaction but remain chemically
unchanged at the end of the reaction. Catalyst increases the rate of reaction by providing an
alternative route with a lower activation energy needed for the reaction to occur.
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) decomposes to produce water and oxygen. The
decomposition of hydrogen peroxide is very slow at room temperature but very fast in
the presence of manganese dioxide (MnO2) catalyst.

ACTIVITY 04:
(a) (i) How does a catalyst increase rate of reaction?.
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(ii) Write down a word equation for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.
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(iii) Write down a chemical equation for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.
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Catalyst and air pollution

- Car engines produce harmful gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrous oxide (NO)
and hydrocarbons.
- A device in the car exhaust containing platinum-rhodium catalyst converts these harmful
gases to less harmful gases.
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ACTIVITY 05:
(a) (i) Why do you think the vehicles we ride in, harm our environment.
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(ii) What have scientist done to reduce the harm caused by our vehicles?
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Biological Catalyst
- Biological catalysts are called enzymes. Enzymes speed up rate of reactions in plants and animals.
Characteristics of enzymes:
- They are very specific. One enzyme catalyses one type of reaction.
- Enzymes are sensitive to temperature. They work best at 40oC. Too high or too low
temperatures destroy enzymes since they are proteins in nature.
- Enzymes are sensitive to pH. They function within narrow range of pH.
Industrial uses of enzymes:
- They are added to detergents from bacteria, and also to make tough meat tender. These
enzymes can be found in papaya fruit. Enzymes are also used for fermentation.

(a) (i) What is an enzyme.

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(ii) Where can enzymes be found? …………………………………………………………
(iii) Why do you think an enzyme that catalyses the break down of starch cannot catalyse
the breakdown of proteins? ………………………………………………………….............
(iv) Why do you think that a child with fever whose body temperature goes above 40°C
may drop dead? ..…………………………………………………………………………….
(iv) Apart from the use of enzymes in the body where are enzymes also used?
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[Grand total = ……mks]

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