CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

Name ___________________________________ Date _____________

Worksheet 8.1A
Investigation planning
When magnesium ribbon reacts with hydrochloric acid, heat energy is given off. You are going to plan an
investigation to discover if adding more magnesium ribbon to dilute hydrochloric acid increases the
temperature rise that takes place when they react together.
1 What are you trying to find out?

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2 Give a brief outline of what you will do.

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3 List the equipment you will use. (Remember to think through everything you will need, including the
chemicals and things you use to measure.)

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

4 What safety measures will you take? (How will you make sure you stay sage? Do you need special
equipment or to behave in a particular way?)

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5 Which variable will you change? This is the independent variable.

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6 Name at least two variables you will keep the same. These are the control variables. (One control
variable could be the type of acid.)

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7 What will you measure and which units will you use? This is the dependent variable. (You measure
something that happens as a result of adding the magnesium ribbon to the acid.)

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8 How will you carry out a preliminary experiment to find out which lengths or
mass of magnesium ribbon to use? (You could try pieces of ribbon that are 1, 0.5 or 0.2 cm longer.)

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

9 Draw a results table. (Remember to make room for enough tests and for you to repeat each test and to
record the mean.)

10 How will you decide what interval you will use between the lengths or masses? (What did you learn
from the preliminary investigation? Do you need a big difference in the length of magnesium ribbon
or a small one?)

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11 Write up your plan on the other side of this worksheet.
Show it to your teacher before you carry out the investigation.

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

Name ___________________________________ Date _____________

Worksheet 8.2A
Falling temperatures
Sofia and Marcus dissolved some ammonium nitrate in water and noticed that the temperature dropped.
Sofia wondered if they could make the temperature fall even lower if they added more ammonium nitrate.
They tried to see if this was true, so they added three spatulas of ammonium nitrate to 25 cm3 water in a
beaker and measured the drop in temperature. They then added ten spatulas of ammonium nitrate to
25 cm3 of water and found that the temperature dropped a little more.
Marcus said he thought the more ammonium nitrate they added, the bigger the drop in temperature
would be.
Sofia said that if they added so much ammonium nitrate that no more would dissolve in the water, then
the temperature would not fall any lower. They decided to measure the mass of ammonium nitrate added
rather than count the number of spatulas of ammonium nitrate added.
1 What is the independent variable in this investigation? (What are they changing?)

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2 They decide to use 25 cm3 water for each test. Why did they use the same volume of water each time?

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3 What other variable should they keep the same?

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4 What is the dependent variable in this investigation? (What happens when they change the
independent variable?)

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

5 They were not sure how much ammonium nitrate they would need to add so that no more would
dissolve, so they looked up the solubility in a textbook. The solubility of ammonium nitrate was given
as 192 g per 100 cm3 water at 20 °C. How much ammonium nitrate would dissolve in the laboratory
where the temperature is 20 °C? Show how you worked this out. (Think how much would dissolve in
50 cm3, which is half of 100 cm3.)

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6 They decided to use an interval of 10 g for the mass of the ammonium nitrate. What does this mean?
(Look at the results table for a clue.)

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7 Why is it difficult for them to be sure that they have measured the temperature drop
of the solution accurately? (Think about what would happen if you did this in a warm room.)

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Here is their results table.

Mass of ammonium Temperature Comments

nitrate added in g drop in °C

10 4

20 5

30 12

40 16

50 20 a few crystals in the bottom of the beaker

60 20 a lot of crystals in the bottom of the beaker

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

8 Plot the results on graph paper. (Plot the mass of ammonium nitrate along the horizontal axis and the
temperature drop along the vertical axis.)
9 Draw a line of best fit on your graph. (Join the points in the smoothest way you can.)
10 Draw a circle around the point that does not follow the pattern.
11 Describe the pattern of the results. (State what happens when you increase the mass of ammonium
nitrate added. Does the change happen in even steps? Does it stop changing?)

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12 Was Sofia’s or Marcus’s idea correct?

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13 What is the name of a solution where no more of the solution will dissolve?

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

Name ___________________________________ Date _____________

Worksheet 8.5A
Word equation practice
1 Which are the products in the following reaction?
zinc + nitric acid  zinc nitrate + hydrogen

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2 Which are the reactants in the following reaction?
sodium + water  sodium hydroxide + hydrogen

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Complete the word equations for the reactions between the following substances.
3 lithium and water

____________________ + water  lithium hydroxide + ____________________

4 zinc and sulfuric acid

____________________ + sulfuric acid  zinc sulfate + ____________________

5 magnesium and hydrochloric acid

_______________ + _______________  magnesium chloride + _______________

6 calcium and water

_______________ + _______________  calcium hydroxide + _______________

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

7 aluminium and nitric acid

_______________ + _______________  aluminium nitrate + _______________

8 potassium and water

_______________ + _______________  _______________ + hydrogen

9 zinc and hydrochloric acid

zinc + _______________  _______________ + _______________

10 magnesium and sulfuric acid

_______________ + _______________  _______________ + _______________

Cambridge Lower Secondary Science 8 – Mary Jones, Diane Fellowes-Freeman and Michael Smyth © Cambridge University Press 2021 20
 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

Name ___________________________________ Date _____________

Worksheet 8.5B
Word equation practice
1 Which are the products in the following reaction?
zinc + nitric acid  zinc nitrate + hydrogen

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2 Which are the reactants in the following reaction?
sodium + water  sodium hydroxide + hydrogen

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Write the word equations for the reactions between the following substances.
3 lithium and water

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4 zinc and sulfuric acid

_______________ + _______________  zinc sulfate + _______________

5 magnesium and hydrochloric acid
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6 calcium and water

_______________ + _______________  calcium hydroxide + _______________

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

7 aluminium and nitric acid

_______________ + _______________  aluminium nitrate + _______________

8 potassium and water

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9 zinc and hydrochloric acid

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10 magnesium and sulfuric acid

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

Name ___________________________________ Date _____________

Worksheet 8.5C
Word equation practice
1 Which are the products in the following reaction?
zinc + nitric acid  zinc nitrate + hydrogen

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2 Which are the reactants in the following reaction?
sodium + water  sodium hydroxide + hydrogen

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Write the word equations for the reactions between the following substances.
3 lithium and water

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4 zinc and sulfuric acid

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5 magnesium and hydrochloric acid

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6 calcium and water

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 8 UNIT 8: CHEMICAL REACTIONS

7 aluminium and nitric acid

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8 potassium and water

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9 zinc and hydrochloric acid

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10 magnesium and sulfuric acid

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