Acid Oxidation Lab

The lab testing consists of investigating the rate of oxidation of Acid Sulfate Soils with variant temperatures. Since the transformation from PASS to AASS involves a significant pH drop to approximately one, rate of reaction and time was measured until the pH levels in the reaction even out at a low pH of approximately one. Appendix A & B demonstrate the oxidation reaction trials for each temperature over time, with pH levels recorded once every second. The time when the data stopped recording was determined when either the reaction had finished, or the time exceeds twelve minutes. This time limit was set due to a constricted time allowance of experiments. It is evident that across all the different initial temperatures, each of the individual

Over the weeks of testing, within each day there consisted systematic errors that would result in increased or decreased values specific to those conditions. This included the calibration of the pH probes, as well as the temperature and location of the trials. Trials on hotter days or under the sun will increase in temperature quicker, affecting the reliability of that result. Over the coming days of trials, the systematic error adds inconsistently until the error becomes random on a global view. Other indeterminate random error consists in the apparatus and measuring accuracy, fluctuating at half the measurement of the lowest measurements made. This was especially important in the measurement of liquids, with +/- 0.05 millilitre differences in either the Hydrogen or the distilled water. Since these two liquids get added together, the error values add to create an overall uncertainty sum. This therefore provides the ASS and solution combined an error uncertainty of +/- 0.1mL. Due to the nature of this experiment however, this error is neglect able and the general trends form with high

Specifically, this investigation analyses how the initial temperature effects the rate of Hydrogen Peroxide oxidising Potential Acid Sulfate Soil. Only when a rapid reaction took place, PASS has been oxidised using Redox theory with the presence of pyrite or other sulphides to react. The hypothesis that the rate of oxidation is correlates with the initial temperature of the solution is true, with the theory being supported that the higher temperatures result in increased reaction speed.

This lab test was conducted over two different depths of PASS, with three trials of five temperatures for each of the two depths. The first and most obvious form of evidence lays within the averaged pH levels over time. From this graph, for each individual depth, the gradient and domain of each of the temperatures are displayed, and from this raw data it is evident that the higher temperatures have the greatest gradient, thus reacting the quickest and therefore having the fastest reaction rate. Despite the two depths reacting at different speeds due to the levels of sulphides in the soils, they both portray these same trends. What is especially noticeable within the Figures Five and Six is the two lowest temperatures do not complete reacting within the graphs domain. For the other three data points, each increment of temperature is distinguishably apart, taking longer