7 – Chemistry HL IA

Chemistry IA

What is the order of the reaction when magnesium reacts with different acids; CH3COOH, HCl and H2SO4? Does the order of the reaction differ? Does the reaction with the highest order of the reaction have the greatest rate of reaction?

Kinetics: order of the reaction Research question:

What is the order of the reaction when magnesium reacts with different acids; CH3COOH, HCl and H2SO4? Does the order of the reaction differ? Does the reaction with the highest order of the reaction have the greatest rate of reaction?

Personal engagement:

When I was doing my math IA, I explored the number of Egyptian fractions required to represent 1 by adding them together by drawing a quadratic graph, 0.002×2+0.025x. This idea reminded me of the concept of determining the order of the reaction with respect to a reactant by looking at the graphical representation of experimental data in chemistry. Then I realized that there are two types of graphs: ‘rate versus concentration’ graph and ‘concentration versus time’ graph to determine the order of the reaction. I decided to use the latter, as calculating the rate of reaction using ‘concentration versus time’ graph is not introduced in the textbook in depth, increasing my curiosity, and even compelled me to explore it independently. Through this IA, I will investigate which reaction using magnesium and different acids as reactants has the highest order of the reaction, and whether it has the greatest rate of reaction too…