Question
A student wants to create a liquid volcano. The student observes bubbles in the soft drink prior to opening it. The student first proceeds to open the soft drink bottle and place it on the floor. Next the student drops candy tablets into the drink at a continuous pace. The student notices a very powerful reaction in which the candies, still intact, are pushed out of the soda as the drink fizzes and starts to bubble. In this scenario, what would be the catalyst? The candy tablets being added to the drink. The gasses being released when the drink was first opened. The liquid in the container. The container that holds the liquid.
Answers
GPT-4o mini
In this scenario, the catalyst is the candy tablets being added to the drink.
A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process. When the student adds the candy tablets to the soda, they create nucleation sites for the carbon dioxide gas that is dissolved in the liquid. This causes the gas to rapidly form bubbles, resulting in the fizzing and bubbling reaction observed, effectively causing a rapid release of gas and creating the "volcano" effect.
The other options (the gases released when the drink was first opened, the liquid in the container, and the container itself) do not act as catalysts in this situation; rather, they are part of the system or the environment in which the reaction occurs.
A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process. When the student adds the candy tablets to the soda, they create nucleation sites for the carbon dioxide gas that is dissolved in the liquid. This causes the gas to rapidly form bubbles, resulting in the fizzing and bubbling reaction observed, effectively causing a rapid release of gas and creating the "volcano" effect.
The other options (the gases released when the drink was first opened, the liquid in the container, and the container itself) do not act as catalysts in this situation; rather, they are part of the system or the environment in which the reaction occurs.