Karl Rollason, 11RLE

Science, Mr. Davenport

Reaction of sodium thiosulphate and hydrochloric acid

GCSE Investigation.

The Reaction….
.
•Sodium thiosulphate, Na2S2O3 reacts with HCl to give a reaction mixture that gets
cloudier as yellow sulphur is formed.

•Na2S2O3(aq)+2HCl >2NaCl(aq)+S(s)+SO2(g)+H2O(l)

When hydrochloric acid is added to the sodium

thiosulphate a reaction occurs which produces a
cloudy suspension of solid sulphur.

The time it takes for the cross to disappear

can be used to investigate rate of reaction

Equipment:

•Laminated paper with X on it

•Beaker/test tube
•1M, Hydrochloric acid
•0.2M, Sodium Thiosulphate solution
•Conical Flask/Beaker
•Stopwatch
Method

We will measure the time taken for a cross beneath a reaction flask to disappear due to
the liquid in the reaction becoming cloudy. We will do the reaction with several
concentrations of hydrochloric acid and try to work out the rate of reaction.

Normally the reaction that we are trying to change is done in a flask. First of all you stir
50cm3 of sodium thiosulphate and 10cm3 of hydrochloric acid into a flask containing
water and when the three are mixed together you start the stopwatch. After making sure
the chemicals are properly mixed together I will place the flask over a piece of card with
an x on it and time how long it takes for the x to be no longer visible. The independent
variable will be the amount of sodium. I will repeat this experiment 2 more times to
ensure I have a more accurate reading. Then I will change the amount of water, adding by
2cm3 each time and subtracting the HCl by the same amount each time.

I will change the concentration of Sodium Thiosulphate (decreasing the concentration of

the substance in solution means that there will be fewer particles per cm3.) The fewer
Karl Rollason, 11RLE
Science, Mr. Davenport
particles that there are in the same volume the further away from each other the particles
will be, therefore the reaction would be slower.

Collision theory background

This is what the experiment looks like at 3 different stages, the 1st being
before the reaction has started the 2nd being when the reaction is taking place
and the 3rd being when the reaction has taken place. Picture reference= Made
by me on my computer using paint.
Karl Rollason, 11RLE
Science, Mr. Davenport

The investigation.
In this investigation we will be looking at how concentration can affect the rate of this
reaction. We can control concentration by diluting solutions of known strengths

HCl (ml) Na2S2O3 (cm3) Water(cm3)

50cm3 0cm3
10ml

50cm3 2cm3
8ml

50cm3 4cm3
6ml

50cm3 6cm3
4ml

50cm3 8cm3
2ml

We attempt to repeat this reaction 5 or 6 times, we do this because the more times we
repeat it, the results will become more reliable than if we had done it only twice or three
times, also if we wanted a lot more accurate results, we would repeat the reaction a lot
more times as there will be a better average.

The Effect of Concentration Is:

•The concentration of a solution is how strong the solution is. For example, if we
consider the reaction between marble chips (calcium carbonate) and hydrochloric acid:

•calcium carbonate + hydrochloric acid —> calcium chloride + water + carbon dioxide

•Then a stronger acid contains more acid particles and less water particles than a weaker
acid.

•Increasing the concentration of a solution leads to more collisions (greater frequency of

collisions) so the rate of the reaction goes up.

•In a less concentrated acid, the number of collisions is low, so the rate of the reaction is
slower. (The water particles aren't shown):

•The effect of temperature

Karl Rollason, 11RLE
Science, Mr. Davenport
•When we increase the temperature at which a reaction is taking place, the particles move
more quickly. This has two effects:

Collision Theory

More collisions take place. When a collision occurs, there is more chance that the
collision will lead to a reaction, because the amount of energy is more likely to be greater
than the minimum amount of energy needed (the activation energy)

At a lower temperature, the number of collisions is lower because the particles are
moving more slowly. Also when a collision occurs, there is less chance of a reaction
taking place because the movement energy in the particles is less (in the animation
successful collisions flash yellow, unsuccessful collisions flash blue):

The effect of particle size:

Solids with a smaller particle size (e.g. powders or small chips) react more quickly than
solids with a larger particle size (e.g. large chips). Here is why:

Look at these diagrams;

The perimeter of the large chip is 12 units. The acid particles can only collide with the
edge of the chip. However, if we break up the large chip into 9 smaller chips:

Then the perimeter around each chip is 4 units, but there are 9 of them so the total
perimeter is 4 x 9 = 36 units. Notice how the acid in the second diagram can reach what
used to be the centre of the large chip.

Adding a catalyst:

A catalyst is a substance that speeds up a reaction without being used up itself. Some
reactions have catalysts that can speed them up, but for many reactions there is no
catalyst that works.
Karl Rollason, 11RLE
Science, Mr. Davenport
Here is an example of a reaction with a catalyst. Hydrogen peroxide decomposes (falls
apart) to form water and oxygen gas:

Hydrogen peroxide —> water + oxygen

This reaction only occurs very slowly unless we add the compound manganese oxide that
acts as a catalyst for this reaction. When the catalyst is added the reaction speeds up
greatly but the manganese oxide never runs out

Background Information
Ref. = http://www.sciencepages.co.uk/keystage4/GCSEChemistry/m3ratesofreaction.php

Prediction

I predict that in the experiment because of the fact that more water is added and less
hydrochloric acid is added that the time the reaction will increase. I also predict that there
will be a positive correlation between the results as when more water is added and when
less HCl is added the average of the time taken for the reaction to finish will decrease by
roughly the same amount every time. I predict that half of the amount of acid will
produce half of the reaction rate. In my results I will look for obvious outliers that are
likely to ruin my experiment and extract them. Due to the experiment not being
performed under ideal circumstances, the results I record may not be 100% accurate
however I will personally do my best in order to make sure all the factors of the
experiment are in order and that none of the items in the area that are not part of the
experiment will be kept well away.

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

These were my results:

Karl Rollason, 11RLE
Science, Mr. Davenport

HCl (ml) Na2S2O3 (cm3) Water (cm3) Ex. Time Taken (secs)
50 0 1st 36
2nd 34
10 3rd 35

Av. 35.00
50 2 1st 38
2nd 38
8 3rd 39

Av. 38.33
50 4 1st 41
2nd 44
6 3rd 44

Av. 43.00
50 6 1st 49
2nd 48
4 3rd 51

Av. 49.33
50 8 1st 63
2nd 66
2 3rd 65

Av. 64.66

Conclusion

The basic pattern of the results shows that the more water that was added to the formula
the longer the reaction took. In conclusion I feel that my prediction matched with my
results and I feel they are relatively accurate, there were no outliers. I also predicted that
as more water was added and the amount of HCl added was decreased that the time taken
for the experiment to end would continuously increase at a steady rate and as you can see
at the graph above, this was an accurate prediction.

Evaluation

Personally I feel that the experiment went quiet well. We can assume that no errors
occurred during the experiment due to there being no outliers. The equipment that we
used was accurate to 0.2ml, although I do not feel that more accurate equipment needed
to be used and I feel that my results were as accurate as they could be considering the
equipment. The results from my experiment prove that I was right in predicting there
would be a positive correlation as also shown in my graph that the more water added and
the less HCl added the longer the reaction would take. Due to the fact their were no
Karl Rollason, 11RLE
Science, Mr. Davenport
outliers in my results, we can assume that during the experiment that I did not measure
anything wrong and each liquid was correctly measured.

There are several possible errors that could have gone wrong in this experiment, for
instance, there could have been errors in the measurements or possibly faulty equipment.
There can also have been errors as there is a low temperature and when it gets to the end
of the experiment it is not easy to judge. Also there could have been errors through no
fault of the equipment but as they are not completely accurate, the amount of error can be
calculated by the formula: error % = error/range x 100. Therefore the error range in this
example is 0.2/50x100=8%. However I don’t think this should be looked into too much
considering the numbers are insignificant. The fact that none of these errors did go wrong
obviously shows I made an effort to make sure the measurements of liquids were right.
Other problems that could have gone wrong are as the experiment was not performed
under ideal circumstances, other experimenters may not have taken the experiment as
seriously as me and my partner did and they may have accidentally ruined our experiment
by being foolish and distracting us and causing us to use wrong measurements. Also
personal items may have slightly affected our experiment as they may have gotten in the
way.

As you can see on my range bar graph my results all seem to be very accurate. The space
in between the highest and lowest bars is very small proving that my results are accurate.

The result of having too much or too little of each reagent is that it will change the times
of the reaction.