Date: 12/08/2020

Title: Rate of Reaction

Observation:
You went to the hairdresser to colour your hair and noticed that the hydrogen peroxide was kept
in the refrigerator. Suggest a hypothesis for the storage of the hydrogen peroxide and plan and
design an experiment to test your hypothesis.

Hypothesis: As temperature increases the rate of decomposition of hydrogen peroxide also

increases.

Aim: To determine the effect of temperature on the rate of decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.

Apparatus:

1. 2 conical flasks
2. Measuring cylinder
3. Hydrogen peroxide
4. Manganese(VI) oxide
5. Gas syringe
6. Stopwatch

Diagram:
Method:

1. Obtain two conical flasks and label them 1 and 2.

2. Using a measuring cylinder measure and pour 25cm3 of hydrogen peroxide in each
conical flask.
3. Using an electronic scale measure 10g of manganese (VI) oxide.
4. Add the manganese (VI) oxide to the conical flask labelled 1 and quickly stopper the
flask with a rubber bung connected to a gas syringe while simultaneously starting the
stopwatch.
5. Measure and record the amount of O2 gas evolved every minute for 5 minutes.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 using the conical flask labelled 2 instead, placing the conical flask in the
refrigerator.

Variables:
Constant:

 Volume of hydrogen peroxide used

 Volume of manganese(VI) oxide used
 Amount of time

Responding:

 The volume of oxygen gas being evolved

Manipulating:

 Temperature the hydrogen peroxide is subjected to

Results: TABLE SHOWING THE AMOUNT OF GAS EVOLVED EVERY MINUTE FOR 5

MINUTES.

1 MIN 2 MIN 3 MIN 4 MIN 5 MIN

ROOM TEMPERATURE

REFRIGERATOR
Expected results:
It is expected that the volume of gas evolved is greater for the conical flask placed at room
temperature after 5 minutes than that of the one in the refrigerator as decomposition increases as
temperature increases. This is because at higher temperatures the particles contain more kinetic
energy which increases the number of effective collision and causes the particles to decompose
faster as there is enough energy required to break the bonds faster so that the products are formed
quicker.

Sources of error:

1. Human reaction time when using the stopwatch.

2. The time taken to place the second set up in the refrigerator can cause errors as the
hydrogen peroxide may have already started to decompose at room temperature.
3. As the volume of gas is being recorded the reaction is still progressing and may lead to
incorrect values being recorded.

Precautions:

1. Ensure that the gas syringe and measuring cylinder is read at eye level to avoid parallax
error.