12.

4 Surface area and

Rates of reaction
reaction rate Worksheet 12.4.1
Lesson 4

The effect of surface area on reaction rate

Objective
To investigate how surface area affects the rate of a reaction.
Your teacher will need
Balance that reads to 2 decimal places
100 cm3 conical flask
25 cm3 measuring cylinder
Stopwatch or stop-clock
Small piece of cotton wool
2 mol/dm3 hydrochloric acid
Calcium carbonate (marble chips) – big lumps, small lumps, and powder
Safety
Wear eye protection.
Preparation
Copy the results table.

Size of calcium carbonate pieces Time for mass to decrease by 0.1 g (s)
Big lumps
Small lumps
Powder

Procedure
1 Measure out 25 cm3 of hydrochloric acid and pour into the conical flask.
2 Place the conical flask and its contents on the balance. Note the mass.
3 Add 2.5 g of big lumps of calcium carbonate. Immediately start the
stopwatch and place the cotton wool in the top of the flask.
4 Stop the stopwatch when the mass of the flask and its contents has decreased
by 0.1 g.
5 Repeat steps 1 to 4 twice more – once with small lumps of calcium
carbonate, and once with calcium carbonate powder.
Presenting evidence
Present the results on a bar chart. Choose your own axes. Don’t forget to label
them properly, and include units.
Considering evidence
1 Describe the pattern shown on your bar chart.
2 Draw and label diagrams to explain your results. Use ideas about colliding
particles. Use the Student book pages 224–225 to help you.

© Oxford University Press 2013: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute 1