Lesson: Rates of Reactions Science • Third Year of Preparatory School

Students will be able to

• give examples of chemical reactions that take place over a variety of different time spans,
• describe how concentrations of reactants and products change over time during the course of a reaction,
• draw graphs to show concentrations of reactants and products changing over time,
• define the term rate of reaction as the change in the concentration of the reactants and products per unit of time,
• list the factors affecting the speed of chemical reactions: nature of reactants, concentration of reactants, temperature of the reaction, and catalysts,
• describe how the nature of reactants affects the rate of reaction,
• explain how the ability to form ions means that covalent compounds are slow to react and ionic compounds are fast to react,
• explain how surface area affects the rate of reaction,
• describe an experiment that uses iron (filings and blocks) and dilute hydrochloric acid to investigate the effect of surface area on the rate of reaction.