Student exploration collision theory

Student Exploration: Collision Theory

Vocabulary: activated complex, catalyst, chemical reaction, concentration, enzyme, half-life, molecule, product, reactant, surface area

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Suppose you added a spoonful of sugar to hot water and another to ice-cold water. Which type of water will cause the sugar to dissolve more quickly? Hot water

2. Suppose you held a lighted match to a solid hunk of wood and another match to a pile of wood shavings. Which form of wood will catch fire more easily? ______________________

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Gizmo Warm-up

A chemical reaction causes the chemical compositions of substances to change. Reactants are substances that enter into a reaction, and products are substances produced by the reaction. The Collision Theory Gizmo™ allows you to experiment with several factors that affect the rate at which reactants are transformed into products in a chemical reaction.

You will need blue, green, and orange markers or colored pencils for the first part of this activity.

1. Look at the key at the bottom of the SIMULATION pane. In the space below, draw the two reactants and two products of this chemical reaction.

image10.pngReactants: Products:

2. Click Play (image11.png). What do you see? ____________________________________________

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Activity A:

Temperature

Get the Gizmo ready:

· Click Reset (image2.jpg).

· Check that the Reactant concentration is set to 1.0 mol/L, the Catalyst concentration is set to 0.00 mol/L, and the Surface area is Minimum.

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Question: How does temperature affect the rate of a chemical reaction?

1. Observe: Select the ANIMATION tab. View the animation with No catalyst selected.

What do you see? __________________________________________________________

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When two reactant molecules meet, they form a temporary structure called an activated complex. The activated complex breaks up into the product molecules.

2. Observe: Return to the CONTROLS pane. Set the Temperature to 0 °C and the Simulation speed to its maximum setting. Click Play.

A. Describe the motions of the molecules. ____________________________________

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B. Now set the Temperature to 200 °C. How does increasing the temperature affect the motions of the molecules? ___________________________________________

C. What do you notice about the chemical reaction at the higher temperature? _______

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3. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. Click the zoom out button (image4.jpg) until you can see the whole graph. What does this graph show?