Investigating the factors that
affect temperature changes in
reacting solutions
Planning an experiment
Objectives
• To plan an experiment to investigate a factor that affects the
temperature rise in an exothermic reaction
• Carry out an experiment to investigate the temperature rise in a
displacement reaction
Examples to be investigated:
• Acid and metals
• Acid and carbonates
• Neutralisation
• Displacement reactions
Before you plan an experiment, you need to think of the factors
that might affect the temperature change in each case
If you choose to investigate one variable, the others must be kept
the same in order for the experiment to be a fair test (control
variables)
Reaction
Metals and
acids
Metals and
carbonates
Acids and
alkalis
Displacement
reactions
Variables that affect the temperature rise
Type of
metal
Type of
acid
Concentration
of acid
Size of pieces
of metal
Write a hypothesis for one of the experiments
A simple setup like this one could be used
for these experiments
Explain why the results of this experiment
may not be accurate and what might be done
to improve them
Class practical-the temperature rise of copper chloride solution
depends on the reactivity of the metal added to the solution