A chemist performs a reaction by adding 50g of NaOH pellets to 500 mL of a 3.0 M HCl solution. What could the chemist do to increase the rate of the reaction?

Answer 1

There are a few things one can do to increase the rate of the reaction.

a) stir the solution to increase the energy of the particle

b) grind up or powder the NaOH pellets to expose more surface area

c) add a catalyst although for acid/base reactions such as this, this would be unusual.

d) warm or heat the reaction in order to increase energy of particles. Although this is an exothermic reaction, and heat will alter the equilibrium, the rate will be increased.