1 H o w fa st?

– rates
A n sw ers

Answers to Topic 1 Test yourself questions

1 a) Concentrated hydrochloric acid reacts 4 a) 2N2O5(g) → 4NO2(g) + O2(g)
much faster with marble chips than b) 2 mol of NO2 is formed from 1 mol of
dilute hydrochloric acid. N2O5;
b) Any reaction involving gases such as 7.0 × 10−4 mol dm−3 s−1
the manufacture of ammonia from 5 a) Collect the gas in a graduated syringe.
nitrogen and hydrogen. b) Remove samples at intervals, stop the
c) Magnesium powder reacts much faster reaction by cooling and then titrate
with dilute hydrochloric acid than against alkali the acid produced by the
magnesium ribbon. reaction.
d) Catalytic converters are only effective c) Measure the conductivity of the
in speeding up the reactions which solution to follow the increase in the
remove pollutants from car exhausts concentration of ions.
once they are hot. d) Carry out the reaction in a flask, with
e) A platinum–rhodium alloy catalyses a loose plug of cotton wool in its
the oxidation of ammonia to nitrogen neck, on a balance and record the
oxide. loss in mass at regular intervals.
2 a) In a more concentrated solution there 6 Rate = k[peroxide]
are more collisions per second rate
k=
between reactants and so an [peroxide]
increased rate of reaction.
7.4× 10−6 moldm−3 s−1
b) Increasing the pressure forces the =
0.02moldm− 3
molecules closer together and
= 3.7 × 10−4 s−1
increases the rate of collisions which
7 Rate = k[ester][OH−]
lead to reaction.
rate
c) When a solid reacts with a liquid or k= −
[ester][OH ]
gas the reaction takes place on the
interface where the reactants meet. 0.00069moldm−3 s−1
=
The larger the surface, the greater the 0.05moldm− 3 × 0.10moldm− 3
area open to reaction. = 0.138 dm3 mol−1 s−1
d) At a higher temperature the Maxwell– 8 a) The graph is a straight line so the
Boltzmann distribution shifts to the reaction is first order with respect to
right so the proportion of molecules bromine.
with energy greater than the b) i) Half-lives are all close to 200 s
activation energy increases, and so wherever they are read from the
more collisions which are more graph.
energetic can lead to reaction. ii) This is consistent with the answer
e) A catalyst provides an alternative to a). The half-life for a first-order
reaction pathway with a lower process is independent of the
activation energy. With a lower starting concentration.
activation energy there are more 9 For a first-order reaction the gradient of
collisions with enough energy to lead the
to reaction. rate–concentration graph gives the rate
moldm3
− 0.42)
(0.55 constant.
3 = 0.0087 mol dm−3  10 a) Rate = k[RBr][OH−]
15s
s−1 b) Second order

1 of 4

© G. Hill and A. Hunt 2009 Edexcel Chemistry for A2

1 H o w fa st? – rates
A n sw ers

c) Units: dm3 mol−1 s−1
11 a) Graph similar to Figure 1.13.
b) 2NH3(g) → N2(g) + 3H2(g)
Rate = k
12 a) Rate = k[RBr][OH−]
rate
b) k = −
[RBr][OH ]
1.36moldm−3 s−1
=
0.02moldm− 3 × 0.02moldm− 3
= 3400 dm3 mol−1 s−1
13 a) Rate = k[R´Br]
rate 40.40 moldm−3 s−1
b) k = =
[R´Br] 0.02moldm−3
= 2020 s−1
14 a) 2H2(g) + 2NO(g) → N2(g) + 2H2O(g)
b) Rate = k[H2(g)][NO(g)]2

2 of 4

© G. Hill and A. Hunt 2009 Edexcel Chemistry for A2

1 H o w fa st? – rates
A n sw ers
15 Reaction between molecules involve the
breaking of covalent bonds. The range
of activation energies roughly
corresponds to the range of values for
covalent bond energies.
16 a) These are the units for a first-order
reaction.
b) As the value of k gets larger, the rate
gets faster for a given concentration
of the reactant. So the reaction
speeds up as the temperature rises.
c) The 10 degree rise from 298 K to
308 K brings about a 5-fold increase
in rate. The 20 degree rise from 278  22 In the first step a strong covalent bond
K to 298 K brings about just over a
25-fold increase in rate.
17 a) Ea/RT becomes smaller in magnitude
as T rises. Because of the negative
sign in the equation, this means that
ln k becomes more positive. So k
gets larger as T rises and the rate is
faster.
b) The larger the activation energy the
larger the value of Ea/RT and so the
smaller the magnitude of ln k. Hence
k gets smaller and the rate less.
Ea
18 ln (4.93 × 10−4) = constant −
8.314× 295
Ea
ln (1.40 × 10−3) = constant −
8.314× 305
Subtract and solve for Ea
Ea = 78 kJ mol−1
19 a) Heterogeneous b) homogeneous
c) heterogeneous d)
heterogeneous
20 In the presence of a catalyst, the
reaction pathway has an activation
energy which is much lower than when
there is no catalyst. Tungsten metal
adsorbs hydrogen into the upper layers
of the crystal structure as single atoms.
So the catalyst breaks the bonds
between the atoms in one of the
reactants. The pathway with a lower
activation energy allows the reaction to
proceed much faster.
© G. Hill and A. Hunt 2009 Edexcel Chemistry for A2
21 There are several steps to picking up a
meal from a canteen counter. The rate
at which the queue moves can be
slowed down if there is a rate-
determining step such as waiting for a
toaster to make pieces of toast or for a
coffee machine to deliver cups of
coffee.
Similarly the flow of traffic along a
motorway slows down overall if there
are lane closures and the traffic has to
travel at 50 mph along a
coned-off section of the road.
has to break. In the second step two
oppositely charged ions, which attract
each other, come together to form a
bond.
23 a) NO2(g) + CO(g) → NO(g) + CO2(g)
b) Rate = k[NO2(g)]2
c) Zero order
24 The intermediate has a double bond as
in an alkene, and an –OH group as in an
alcohol. Hence it is called an enol.
25 a) Rate = k[CH3COCH3][H+]
b) Hydrogen ions act as the catalyst for
the reaction. They are not used up in
the reaction and so do not appear in
the balanced equation. However,
hydrogen ions are involved in the
rate-determining step so that the
concentration of hydrogen ions
affects the rate of reaction. As a
result, the concentration of hydrogen
ions appears in the rate equation.
26 Hydrogen ions are used to form the enol
intermediate in steps 1 and 2 but then
as many hydrogen ions are released at
the end of step 2.
27 In both reactions the rate is determined
by the rate of formation of the enol,
which depends on the concentrations of
propanone and hydrogen ions. Bromine
or iodine then react very quickly with
the enol intermediate as soon as it is
formed.
3 of 4
1 H o w fa st? – rates
A n sw ers

4 of 4

© G. Hill and A. Hunt 2009 Edexcel Chemistry for A2