Mass Loss Experiment

Analysis of Mammal Tooth Mass Loss in Laboratory Phosphoric Acid

Results from the experiment of soaking tooth in phosphoric acid (Table 6 and Graph 1) show a very weak positive correlation between the concentration of phosphoric acid and percentage mass loss in each tooth. Initially from 0.1M to 0.3M, there is a sharp increase in percentage mass loss of tooth soaked within these solutions, however, as seen from the graph, the percentage mass loss of tooth within 0.4M and 0.5M starts to decrease steadily. The data points combined together almost show a parabolic relationship between the two variables. The R2 value is less than 0.5, suggesting a non-linear relationship between the two variables.

Below will be an explanation of each reasons

The difference between diluted and concentrated acid is the ratio of acid molecules to water molecules within the solution. In diluted acids, there are lesser acid molecules relative to water molecules, and vice versa for concentrated acids. However, diluted acids will disassociate into H+ ions more readily than concentrated acids, where as concentrated acids will have acid molecules within the solution and not its ions in dissociated form, because water acts as an ionization medium for acid molecules (O’Leary, 2000). In addition, fewer ions within the solution means there are more space for solutes to occupy within the solution, thus, increasing the solubility of solutes within the solution and/or allow H+ ions within the solution to react with more solutes. These two factors can collectively contribute to the corrosiveness of an acid, therefore, diluted acids can cause greater corrosive damage to a substance as the presence of water molecules can aid the dissociation of acid molecules into its ions and there is greater capacity for solutes and H+ ions to

The error bars on the graph show little overlapping of data, indicating that the data are somewhat reliable to a large extent.

Analysis of Mammal Tooth Mass Loss in Coca Cola Results show a negative correlation (Table 7 & Graph 2) between concentration of Coca Cola and the percentage mass loss in each tooth. Looking at each individual data points, although the points may not all lie on the line of best fit, however the percentage mass loss in 20% is the highest amongst all the other points, while being lowest concentration within the experiment, therefore, supporting the argument that there is a negative correlation between the two variables. The R2 value is less than 0.5, suggesting a non-linear relationship between the two variables.

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