Are these Chem IA topics a good idea?

[Acamar]

I have to finalize my chem IA topic by next week, and finding a good topic's been pretty frustrating...

My teacher said a good IA's results shouldn't be easily predicted just by looking at the title, and he didn't like some topics that were too simple or too common.

The ideas I'd suggested so far:

• Concentration of carbonic acid in soda water over time / rate of decomposition at various temperatures (seems kinda pointless...)
• Equilibrium of carbonic acid in water at different temperatures (link to ocean acidification? I didn't really think this through)
• The rate order of different acids on calcium carbonate (teacher said the acids would behave mostly the same way except for the number of H+)
• Correlation of transition metal catalyst effectiveness to number of electrons in d orbital (probably way too complex to explain for an IA, but maybe it could be simplified?)

If they seem focused on acid-base chemistry, it's just because I can't think of any other topics. Does anyone have any advice or tips about looking for a good topic, or modifying my ideas?

Thanks, if anyone responds.

[SC2Player]

My comments on your ideas, in order:

1. You could plot a curve of sorts and see what order the reaction is, but there isn't really that much to discuss, especially in terms of chemistry, so I think you're right in thinking it's mostly pointless.  
2. Seems somewhat similar to 1, and not really much to discuss, as you're basically just looking at the equilibrium constant (too simple tbh, especially for HL)
3. Might work, but what your teacher said is probably true, so again not really much to discuss.  
4. Very complex, as catalysts in general operate on a number of different principles, of which electrons are only just one factor.  Quite difficult to control all other factors, especially seeing that most catalysts operate via a catalytic cycle.  You could investigate the factors affecting colour of transition metal compounds (although be wary of making it too physics-related), or maybe just investigate a few simple catalytic cycles too.  

Organic chemistry can provide a number of good topics (e.g. substitution reactions, oxidation of alcohols, separation of enantiomers), but they're often tricky to set up and properly control.  Titrations for quantitative analysis is a fairly common topic, as it relates to both stoichiometry and acid-base theory (good IAs should cross multiple topics). Overall, for ideas in general, you could simply look at some common experiments, and attempt to think of extensions from there.  For example, you could look at oxidation of alcohols, and instead of just looking at it from one oxidizing agent, you could perhaps test it with different agents, and see what happens.  I'm not sure if you're in SL or HL, so keep in mind that HL IAs should be more complex than SL.  

[Acamar]

On ‎3‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 6:22 PM, SC2Player said:

Organic chemistry can provide a number of good topics (e.g. substitution reactions, oxidation of alcohols, separation of enantiomers), but they're often tricky to set up and properly control.  Titrations for quantitative analysis is a fairly common topic, as it relates to both stoichiometry and acid-base theory (good IAs should cross multiple topics). Overall, for ideas in general, you could simply look at some common experiments, and attempt to think of extensions from there.  For example, you could look at oxidation of alcohols, and instead of just looking at it from one oxidizing agent, you could perhaps test it with different agents, and see what happens.  I'm not sure if you're in SL or HL, so keep in mind that HL IAs should be more complex than SL.  

Thank you very much for your advice!

I'm in HL, but I'm not sure how complex an IA has to be. Would a simple "titration for quantitative analysis" make a good IA (I did think about testing for sodium hypochlorite in various bleaches...redox and stoichiometry, might be a bit dangerous though), or would it be a bit below HL standard?

I'll keep looking for topics I suppose. Thanks.

[IB`NOT`ez]

6 minutes ago, Acamar said:

Thank you very much for your advice!

I'm in HL, but I'm not sure how complex an IA has to be. Would a simple "titration for quantitative analysis" make a good IA (I did think about testing for sodium hypochlorite in various bleaches...redox and stoichiometry, might be a bit dangerous though), or would it be a bit below HL standard?

I'll keep looking for topics I suppose. Thanks.

Just a correction actually – HL IAs aren't necessarily expected to be more complex than SL IAs. Marking criteria are the same for both SL or HL, so avoid being overly complex than necessary.

The experiments themselves can be as simple as titrations – my experiment was a simple Iodine kinetics one. The most important thing is how you develop your exploration in terms of writing good methodologies, being concise and detailed in your exploration, demonstrating personal input at multiple stages of the exploration, and of course precise data processing & conclusions. Generally too much emphasis is placed on the experiment itself when it's actually the part that comes after that's most important. 

 

Edited March 20, 2017 by IB`ez

[Acamar]

48 minutes ago, IB`ez said:

Just a correction actually – HL IAs aren't necessarily expected to be more complex than SL IAs. Marking criteria are the same for both SL or HL, so avoid being overly complex than necessary.

The experiments themselves can be as simple as titrations – my experiment was a simple Iodine kinetics one. The most important thing is how you develop your exploration in terms of writing good methodologies, being concise and detailed in your exploration, demonstrating personal input at multiple stages of the exploration, and of course precise data processing & conclusions. Generally too much emphasis is placed on the experiment itself when it's actually the part that comes after that's most important. 

Heh, thanks. That's slightly reassuring for me, since I suck at lab work.

Sorry, by a good methodology, do you mean that we should not be copying a method from somewhere, or that it should be worded in a very detailed and precise way?

Also, an exploration as in, in the experiment (going beyond a simple titration) or in the explanation (going in detail about the chemical principles)?

Perhaps I could do an investigation into the A.E. of some reaction...seems like a fairly indepth exploration that could be done on various reactions in order to not copy a common experiment.

[IB`NOT`ez]

17 minutes ago, Acamar said:

Heh, thanks. That's slightly reassuring for me, since I suck at lab work.

Sorry, by a good methodology, do you mean that we should not be copying a method from somewhere, or that it should be worded in a very detailed and precise way?

Also, an exploration as in, in the experiment (going beyond a simple titration) or in the explanation (going in detail about the chemical principles)?

Perhaps I could do an investigation into the A.E. of some reaction...seems like a fairly indepth exploration that could be done on various reactions in order to not copy a common experiment.

Methods more or less would be similar to ones that have been done. However, you should be wording it yourself and as you carry out your experiment, you may notice additional steps you could add as personal input. Generally, good methodologies (including a list of the required equipment) that I've seen are about a page long. The methodology should be worded precisely with detail, and using scientific terms e.g. burette, Erlenmeyer Flask, pipette (I once saw an IA draft that referred to the pipette as "that sucky sucky thing i forgot the name lol"), as well as being third person – meaning no "I's, "we", or "you" anywhere in the methodology, since it's supposed to be a series of steps that your english teacher can follow without understanding the chemistry.

Exploration is not really the experiment, but going about the chemical principles. Usually a good introduction and chemistry background for your experiment would be about 2-3 pages long, followed by a page or two consisting of your variables, and an explanation of your hypothesis. Prioritize your variable explanations on how you plan on controlling them.

Ehh activation energy is what my teacher called a "boring" topic. At least, titrations are experiments you can tie into acids and bases, stoichiometry, characteristics of certain elements based on their periods/groups, structure etc. Activation Energy IAs are generic in the sense that it's not hard to pull off a decent grade (14-17/24) with them since you can find lots of examples online, but getting much higher marks becomes more difficult since you can't really achieve high Exploration marks given the limited topic coverage and chemistry principles behind it, and there's also not much you can evaluate apart from the usual ones i.e. temperature wasn't controlled accurately/limited data range/limited number of trials. Granted there are always exceptions where Ea IAs can stand out, it's usually a risk to try pulling one off. 

Edited March 20, 2017 by IB`ez