Producing Carbon Dioxide from a Metal Carbonate :: Science Thermal Decomposition Essays

Producing Carbon Dioxide from a Metal Carbonate Metal Carbonate Metal Oxide + Carbon Dioxide Thermal decomposition ‘is when a substance breaks down into simpler substances when heated, often with the help of a catalyst. It’s different from a reaction because there’s only one substance to start with’. I came across this information in the EDEXCEL Modular Science revision guidebook 1. Thermal decomposition is the breakdown of a substance using thermal energy, this is not a reaction. Preliminary experiment Limewater and copper carbonate were used to see if a metal carbonate beaks down to produce carbon dioxide. This is what the experiment looked like: The equation for this: CaCo3(s) CuO(s) + Co2 (g) This experiment was to see if carbon dioxide was produced from a metal carbonate. In this case copper carbonate was used. Two test tubes were linked together by a rubber tube, which had a glass pipe coming out of the cork that prevented any of the carbon dioxide or any other gas from escaping. As you can see from the diagram in one tube there was limewater that was to test for the carbon dioxide, and in the other was copper carbonate. If there were carbon dioxide present, the limewater would turn cloudy (white in colour). When I was observing what happened I could see that there was carbon dioxide present because the limewater turned cloudy. Secondary Experiment This experiment was to compare the rates of decomposition of several metal carbonates. Several metal carbonates were placed in a test tube and linked to a syringe that measured the amount of carbon dioxide gas when the metal carbonates were heated. This experiment is to see how fast metal carbonates will break down to produce carbon dioxide. The reason they break don’t break down at the same time is because more reactive ones don’t want to break up. So the longer it holds onto its carbonate the more reactive the metal is. In this experiment there are a few factors that can affect the results of the experiment. These factors can make the results of the experiment be incorrect. The factors that can affect the experiment are: 1 Water 2 Amounts of powder 3 Distance the flame is away from the metal carbonate Water can affect the results because it can get into the powder, which can speed up a reaction. If different amounts of the substance are used, then the results can be affected because the more amount of powder there is, the more carbon dioxide will be produced. Plan In this experiment I plan to use 1/500 of a mole. This is because if anything greater is used then the amount is too great and the results