The Effects of Acetic acid on Sodium Bicarbonate
Introduction:
Acids and bases are one of the main components of chemistry. They are both substances with unique chemical properties and can use them to neutralize each other. An acid is any substance that produces positively charged hydrogen ions when reacting to a solution containing water. However, a base is a substance that neutralises positively charged hydrogen atoms, which is the reason why an acid and base always form a salt and a water, In this experiment, sodium bicarbonate ( a base) will be combined with vinegar ( an acetic acid) to form Co2 bubbles. The reason why sodium bicarbonate and vinegar react with each other is due to the fact that they are a base and an acid, respectively,
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Hypothesis:
An increase in the concentration of the acetic acid vinegar will cause a correlating increase in the volume of CO2 bubbles produced.
Variables:
Independent variable: 20%,40%,60%,80% and 100% concentrations of 20 ml vinegar
Dependent: The volume (ml) of Co2 bubbles formed
Controlled variables: 5 grams of Sodium Bicarbonate
20 ml of vinegar acid
Apparatus used during the
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The trend between these two variables, clearly seen in Figure 1, is that a rise in the increase of the concentration of vinegar (in %) directly increased the volume of Co2 bubbles produced (ml ). So, every 20% increase in the concentration of vinegar caused a direct rise in the volume of carbon dioxide bubbles produced. These results can be explained by the Law of Conservation of Mass ( discovered by the scientist Antoine Lavoisier), which states that matter in any form of reaction ( chemical or physical) cannot be created or destroyed. It also states that the mass of products in a reaction must also equal the mass of the reactants in it. So, according to the Law of Conservation of Mass, the mass of the sodium bicarbonate and vinegar must also equal the mass of carbon dioxide and other by-products produced. Thus, a greater concentration of vinegar would contain more mass, and that would potentially result in a greater volume of Co2 bubbles as for both sides of this chemical equation to be true, the one on the right ( the products) has to increase in volume. This also the reason why the 20% concentration of vinegar container felt heavier than the 40% concentration of vinegar container, and why the 40% container of vinegar contained more mass than the 60%