Our hypothesis:
We predicted that the chopped potato cubes would cook faster than the whole potato cube because the chopped potato cubes have a larger surface area than the whole potato cube, meaning that the chopped potato cubes would have a faster rate of reaction and would cook faster than the whole potato cube.
To make sure our test is fair, we...
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Made sure that our potatoes have approximately the same mass, both of them being 7 grams
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Made sure that both the chopped and whole potato cube all add up to the same width, height and length: 3 x 2 x 1 cm
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Made sure our potatoes are given the same duration of time to react
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Made sure that the potatoes to react in the same volume of water
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Made sure that the temperature of the water is about the same (boiling)
And here are the results to our 'How surface area affects the rate of reaction?' experiment in the video...
Table of Results:
Graph of Results:
Conclusion...
In conclusion, our experiment relating to surface area supports our hypothesis as we predicted that the chopped, smaller potato cubes would cook and react faster than the big, whole potato cube.
The gradient of the graph shows the scale of "cookedness" per second, and hence the speed of the reaction. Basically: gradient of graph = rate of reaction.
Proof that the chopped potato cubes react faster can be shown in the graph of results above because the graph of the chopped potato cubes has a steeper gradient than the whole potato cube, meaning that the chopped potato cubes reacted (and cooked) faster than the whole potato cubes).
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This is the case because the chopped potato cubes have more particles exposed to being hit, meaning that it has a higher surface area overall. Since the chopped potato cubes have a higher surface area, more of it's particles would be hit more easily and often, making the chopped potato cubes react and cook faster.