Could you reduce the concentration of a reactant by one half in Experiments 2-4 and achieve the same purpose as doubling their concentration? Why or why not?
(I want to say yes, because the ratios will still be the same. Would that be right?)
Data for Experiments 1-4:
Exp 1: 4.0 M acetone=10 ml, 1.0 M HCl=10 ml, 0.0050 M I2= 10 ml, Distilled H20=20 ml
Exp 1: 4.0 M acetone=20 ml, 1.0 M HCl=10 ml, 0.0050 M I2= 10 ml, Distilled H20=10 ml
Exp 1: 4.0 M acetone=10 ml, 1.0 M HCl=20 ml, 0.0050 M I2= 10 ml, Distilled H20=10 ml
Exp 1: 4.0 M acetone=10 ml, 1.0 M HCl=10 ml, 0.0050 M I2= 20 ml, Distilled H20=10 ml
No, reducing the concentration of a reactant by half in Experiments 2-4 will not achieve the same purpose as doubling their concentration. Let's take a closer look at the data to understand why.
In chemical reactions, the reaction rate is often related to the concentration of the reactants. Higher concentrations of reactants usually result in a faster reaction rate. In this case, we are considering the effect of acetone, HCl, and I2 concentrations on the reaction rate.
Let's consider Exp 1 as our baseline. In Exp 1, we have 4.0 M acetone, 1.0 M HCl, and 0.0050 M I2. The ratio of reactant concentrations is 4:1:0.005 in Exp 1.
Now, in Exp 2, if we reduce the concentration of acetone by half (to 2.0 M) and keep the other concentrations the same, the new ratio of reactant concentrations will be 2:1:0.005. This is a different ratio compared to Exp 1.
Similarly, if we reduce the concentration of HCl by half in Exp 3 or the concentration of I2 by half in Exp 4, the resulting ratios will also change.
Therefore, reducing the concentration of a reactant by one half in Experiments 2-4 will not achieve the same purpose as doubling their concentration. The ratios of reactant concentrations play a crucial role in determining the reaction rate, so changing these ratios will affect the reaction outcome.