Name: _________________________________
Period: _______
Chemical Weathering Lab
Research Questions:
How does acidity affect the weathering of minerals?
How does temperature affect the weathering of minerals?
Background questions:
Define chemical weathering ______________________________________________________
Does increasing temperature increase chemical reactions? Explain:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Hypotheses: (I think if we __________, then ______________ will happen, because ______):
Acidity: _______________________________________________________________________
Temperature: __________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Materials:
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Two 250 ml beakers
50 ml vinegar
50 ml water
6 small pieces of chalk
Triple beam balance
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Hot plate
Tongs or tweezers
3 different colored markers
Timer
Paper towels
Procedure:
1. Gather materials.
2. Place a color dot on each piece of chalk. You should have two of each color.
3. Measure the mass of each piece of chalk and record color/mass in your chart (keep track of each piece)
4. Put 50 ml of tap water into one beaker. Put 50 ml of vinegar into the other beaker.
5. Place one piece of each color into each beaker so that there are 3 pieces of chalk in each beaker.
6. Allow to sit for 2 minutes.
7. Use the tweezers to remove each piece of chalk and set on a paper towel (keep track of each piece)
8. Plug in and preheat your hot plate
9. Measure the mass of each piece of chalk and record in your chart. Also record any observations
10. Put the pieces of chalk back in the same beakers.
11. Place the beakers on the hot plates and heat for two minutes.
12. Unplug the hot plate, leave beakers on. Use tweezers to remove chalk pieces
13. Measure the final mass of each piece and record in your chart. Also record any observations.
14. Dispose of chalk, rinse beakers and return all materials.
Data Collection:
Liquid Type
Dot Color
Starting
Mass
Mass after
2 min
Change in
mass after 2
min
Mass after
heating
Change in
mass after
heating
Water 1
Water 2
Water 3
Ave. Water
X
Acid 1
Acid 2
Acid 3
Ave. Acid
X
Graph: Create a bar graph to show the average changes in mass (create a bar for each gray box in your table).
Analysis Questions: Answer on notebook paper and attach to lab sheet. Use complete sentences.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
How did acidity affect the mass of the chalk (water compared to acid)?
How did heat affect the mass of the chalk (before heat compared to after heat)?
Were your hypotheses correct? Explain.
Explain any mistakes or errors that were made during the lab and how you could fix them.
What would you differently if you did this lab again?