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I have finished my experiment of HCl and Mg. With my activation energy graph it has made it virtually impossible to measure the value of the gradient. On my x axis, I put 1/T / k-1 with 0.001 every 20 squares. On the y axis I put the ln(rate/s-1) with -1 every 20 squares. Is there anyway that I can spread out my graph or something? Could I perhaps put the 1/T on the y axis and vice versa, i.e. swap axes? The shape of my line for HCl is sort of like a small bolt of lighting about 8 cm long. It is virtually a straight line, but I need to stretch it out somehow, as the line is sort of vertical by only a few degrees Please help.
Ulex replies
Don’t switch the axes, this will confuse the issue!
Keep 1/T on the x axis, but use a scale with a lot more squares for each 0.001. It may be necessary to express 1/T to rather more decimal places than you might think is justifiable, because otherwise the values of 1/T all look about the same. For example, if you did a measurement at 20 °C, this is 293 K so 1/T is 0.00341. If there is another measurement at 30 °C, 303 K then 1/T is 0.00330. In fact all your values are going to be 0.003 something.
You need a scale with 10 squares for every 0.00010 I should think.
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updated: 28 October 2004
