Week 2 : Research

After establishing that i would be conducting an experiment that involved chemistry i chose to work with Panadol tablets and how fast the tablets would dissolve in different temperatures of water.

So ultimately i was conducting an experiment to see the solubility of Panadol tablets when tested in different water temperatures.

Firstly my main question was which Panadol tablets would i be using?

It was clear to me that the most effective Panadol tablets that i would be able to use for this experiment were the Panadol Rapid soluble tablets. This was the perfect match for this experiment as these tablets worked when dropped into water where they would dissolve according to the temperature of the water.

Now my job was to determine whether the tablet would dissolve the fastest in hot water , Cold water or normal water...

To get a better understanding of what i was dealing with i decided to research about the Panadol Rapid Soluble Tablets , hence i was able to obtain the product information for the tablets.

I was able to obtain the Panadol Rapid Soluble product information from a website on the internet. I will clearly list this site later on in my bibliography !

Panadol Rapid Soluble

Active Ingredients

Paracetamol 500mg.

Inactive Ingredients

Sodium 425.5mg, Saccharin Sodium, Aspartame, Sucrose, Phenylalanine.

Product Description

Panadol Rapid Soluble is a specially formulated effervescent tablet for fast effective pain relief. Each Panadol tablet contains 500mg of Paracetamol, which makes it one of the most effective pain medications available. Panadol Rapid Soluble is suitable for people with stomach ulcers, asthmatics who are sensitive to aspirin and NSAIDs, breast feeding mothers, reducing fever, providing relief from cold and FLU like symptoms, and from the discomfort associated with a variety of temporary aches and pains. Included in this list of aches and pains is, Tension Headaches, Migraines, Period Pain, Arthritis, Backache, Osteoarthritis, Muscular Aches, and Toothache.

Panadol Rapid Soluble tablets are Gluten free, Lactose free, and Sugar free.

So what exactly is Paracetamol? 

It is thought paracetamol reduces fever by affecting an area of the brain that regulates our body temperature (the hypothalamic heat-regulating center).

Paracetamol is about as effective as aspirin at relieving mild to moderate pain and reducing fever, but unlike aspirin it has no anti-inflammatory effect.

Paracetamol can be used to relieve mild to moderate pain associated with conditions such as headaches, migraine, toothache, teething, colds and flu. It is also useful for reducing fever and discomfort associated with colds and flu.

How does the temperature of the water affect the solubility rate of the Panadol Rapid Soluble tablets?

When the Panadol Rapid Soluble tablets are dropped into water they fizz rapidly. While the tablet fizzes , a chemical reaction is taking place and as a consequence carbon dioxide gases are released. So i had to figure out how big of a difference in the rate of a chemical reaction can temperature make?

Ultimately what i had to determine was if i could make the tablet dissolve faster or slower depending on the temperature of the water. 

What is a Chemical Reaction?

http://www.chem4kids.com/files/react_intro.html

A Chemical Reaction takes place when one or more chemicals react to become different chemicals. This occurs through the re-arrangement of the atoms from the reactant side of the equation to the product side.

In order for a chemical reaction to occur, the particles, atoms or ions, which are REACTANTS, must physically come into contact with one another. Anything that increases the frequency of these encounters will increase the rate at which PRODUCTS are formed.

So subsequently what this means is change in which a substance is changed into one or more new substances.

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com

QUESTIONS.

I decided to think of a few questions that i needed to answer, i wanted to make sure that after i had completed my investigation my questions about this topic would have been all answered.

I will answer these questions and refer to them later on either in my conclusion or discussion.

1. How will the increased temperature of the water , affect the reaction rate of the tablet?

2. Which condition of water will the tablet dissolve the fastest  in?

3. List the conditions that the tablets dissolve in from slowest to fastest.

4. How does a reaction in this particular case occur?

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

OPENZ. ( 2005) Online Pharmacy NZ [ Internet ] Available from: <http://www.onlinepharmacynz.com/product/423/Panadol_Rapid_Soluble.html>[accessed 12the March, 2011]