This required practical covers Required Practical: Investigating Rate of Reaction within Rates & Collision Theory for GCSE Chemistry. Revise Rates & Collision Theory in Rates of Reaction for GCSE Chemistry with 25 exam-style questions and 16 flashcards. This topic appears less often, but it can still be a useful differentiator on mixed-topic papers. It is section 6 of 14 in this topic. Revise both the method and the reason for each step, because practical questions often test understanding rather than pure recall.
🔬 Required Practical: Investigating Rate of Reaction
Example: Marble chips (CaCO₃) + Hydrochloric acid
CaCO₃(s) + 2HCl(aq) → CaCl₂(aq) + H₂O(l) + CO₂(g)
Method (gas syringe):
- Measure 50 cm³ of HCl into a conical flask
- Add marble chips (weighed) and immediately connect gas syringe
- Start stopwatch and record volume of CO₂ every 10 seconds
- Continue until no more gas is produced
- Plot volume (y-axis) against time (x-axis)
Variables:
- Independent: What you change (e.g., concentration, temperature, surface area)
- Dependent: What you measure (volume of gas or time)
- Control: What you keep the same (mass, volume, temperature if not testing it)
Practice questions for Rates & Collision Theory
According to collision theory, which of the following must happen for a chemical reaction to take place?
Explain, using collision theory, why increasing the concentration of a reactant solution increases the rate of reaction.