CHEMICAL KINETICS THE IODINE CLOCK

REACTION
L. WOODS
INSTITUTE OF GROUNDER STUDIES, COLLEGE OF POLARIS
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES, DILIMAN, QUEZON CITY 1101, PHILIPPINES
DATE SUBMITTED: 16 FEBRUARY 2016
DATE PERFORMED: 09 FEBRUARY 2016

ABSTRACT
The experiment was conducted to describe the kinetics of the reaction I and S2O8 and to use the initial rate
method to determine the rate law of the reaction. The effects of different factors were also observed and recorded.
Reaction completion was indicated by the formation of a blue-back Iodine-starch complex using a starch indicator.
The time it took for the reactions to finish were recorded in order to compute for the individual reaction rates, the
rate law, and the rate constant. The experiment showed that the law is rate = k[S 2O82-][I-] with a second order of
reaction. The rate constant is 6.33 x 10 -3. To observe the effects of temperature, the same reaction was exposed to
different temperatures and their reaction times were recorded. An increase in temperature was seen to speed up the
reaction time. The addition of a catalyst also caused the reaction to occur at a faster pace. The Activation energy
(Ea) and the Arrhenius constant (A) was computed using the data. The values of the two are 50.655 kJ and 2.93 x
108 respectively.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1. Calculated concentrations and
rates
Ru
[S2O32- Rate
[S2O82-] [I-]
n
]
M/s
0.0
9.0 x
1
0.020
0.0008
8
10-6
0.0
8.0 x
2
0.020
0.0008
4
10-6
0.0
2.9 x
3
0.020
0.0008
2
10-6
0.0
7.0 x
4
0.030
0.0008
4
10-6
0.0
1.0 x
5
0.040
0.0008
4
10-5
Higher concentrations of S2O82- and I- show
more favorable results.
2 I- (aq) + S2O82- (aq) I2 (aq) + 2 SO42-(aq) (Eq. 1)

This equation is the slow step or the ratedetermining step of the reaction. It involves the
oxidation of I- by S2O8-. However, the addition
of thiosulfate causes the reaction to proceed at a
faster rate resulting in:
I2 (aq) + 2 S2O32- (aq) 2 I- (aq) + S4O62- (aq) (Eq. 2)
The S2O32- consumes the iodine formed in Eq. 1
reducing iodine back to iodide so the reaction
could repeat. The process keeps going until the
S2O32- is completely used up and the iodine can
react with the starch to form the blue-black
complex.
The rate of the reaction,
determined by the equation:

therefore,

is

Rate = (1)
1

The equation illustrates the change of I concentration per unit time.

After the rate of the reactions are
determined, it becomes possible to
compute for the rate law and the rate
constant.
Rate = k[A]m[B]n (2)
In the equation (2), k stands for the
proportionality constant or the rate
constant. The exponents of the reactants (m
and n) indicate the rate orders of their
respective reactants [3]. Adding them
gives the total rate order of the reaction.
To find the rate orders of the reactants, one
rate is divided by another and the same is
done to their respective reactants. Ideally,
one of them would cancel out so
logarithms can be used to compute for the
rate order of the remaining one. This is
repeated, this time with the other reactant
cancelling out [1].

The Grubbs Test was applied to decide

whether any of the data can be considered
outliers. The suspected values were the
highest (0.01) and the lowest (0.005625)
values. The highest value gave a g
(experimental value) of 1.6076 which is less
than the tabulated g for a 95% confidence
(1.7150). Therefore, 0.01 is not an outlier
and was included in the final data. The
lowest value yielded similar results, giving
a g of 0.50864 and was included in the final
data. The average of the remaining k values
is 6.33 x 10-3 which is then taken as the k
value.
The equation relating S2O82- to the reaction
rate is as follows:
y = 0.283x 0.321 (4)

Figure 1. Graph of y = 0.283x 0.321

The rate law is: Rate = k[S2O82-][I-]. (3)

Both reactants were determined to have
first order rate orders. First Order means
that the reactants are directly proportional
to the rate of reaction. The rate law (3) was
determined by plugging in the different
concentrations to the rate law and using
algebra to determine k. However, since
there were five different runs, there are five
possible values of k.

With the equation, you can get the r2 value

which is 0.19518. The r2 value indicates the
correctness of the reactions order. The
closer it is to one, the more correct it is.
However, the r2 value of the equation is
closer to zero. It could mean that there
were errors committed during the
experiment.

The equation relating I- to the reaction rate

is as follows:
y = 0.800x + 6.30 (4)
Figure 2. Graph of y = 0.800x + 6.30

Again, the r2 value of the equation can be

taken and it is 0.6538. The value can be
rounded up to 1 but it has a 34.62% percent
error. The equations of the lines were taken
by getting the natural logarithms of the
rates and the reactant concentrations.
Table 2. Calculated rate constants of each
set
Rate
Set
constant
1
0.5
2
1.175
3
0.275
4
0.6375
The equation of the data (excluding Set 4,
as directed) is:
y = -5940x + 19.06 (5)
Figure 3. Graph of y = -0.000164x + 0.00320

The graph shows ln k vs.

1
T

of sets 1-3.

Set 4 was not included because a catalyst

was used and a catalyst reduces the
activation energy needed for the reaction
[2]. The activation energy is 50.7 kJ and the
Arrhenius constant is 2.93 x 108. The values
prove that as the temperature increases, the
value of k also increases. The r 2 value is
0.9999 which can easily be rounded up to 1
and has a percent error of only 0.0001%
which is essentially negligible. The
activation energy does not change since the
only thing be affected by the temperature is
the rate at which the molecules collide [3].
The values were taken using the linear
form of the Arrhenius equation.
(Important note: in the linear form of the
Arrhenius equation, ln k is the x-value and
1/T is the y-value. However, the graph
switches the two, as directed.)
Moving back to Set 4 of Table 2, a catalyst
was used in the reaction as mentioned in
the previous paragraph. The catalyst works
by providing an alternate reaction route
(sometimes by adding additional steps
with lower activation energies) [1].
Compared to the amount of time Set 1
took, Set 4 took a shorter amount of time.
Both sets were done at more or less the
same temperature (room temperature).
Set 4s rate constant would therefore be
different because it is governed by different
parameters. Hence, the rate law would also
change:
Rate = k[S2O82-][I-][CuSO4]x (6)
The rate of the reaction was 5.1 x10 -4 M per
second. Using the linear form of the
Arrhenius equation, you can get the new
activation energy which is 50.5 kJ. Using

the same equation, you can get the

Arrhenius constant of the reaction which is
2.93 x 108.

[2] Odian, G., & Blei, I. (1994). Schaum's

Outlines: General, Organic, and
Biological Chemistry. New Jersey:
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

REFERENCES
[1] Brown, e. a. (2015). Chemistry: The
Central Science (Thirteenth ed.).
London: Pearson Education
Limited.

[3] Silberberg, M. (2013). Principles of

General Chemistry (Third ed.). New
York: McGraw-Hill.

APPENDIX A - TABLES
Reaction times of each run (with varying concentrations as indicated in Table 1)
Run
Time, s
1
44.38
2
49.77
3
139.93
4
57.38
5
39.03

Effect of Temperature and Catalyst on Reaction Rate

Temp,
Time,
Set
Rate, M/s
K
s
1
301.65
49.77
4.0 x 10-4
2
315.15
21.23
9.4 x 10-4
3
293.15
91.61
2.2 x 10-4
4
301.15
39.00
5.1 x 10-4

APPENDIX B EQUATIONS
max

(1) Grubbs test => g=

|X i X |

i=1,n

(2) Arrhenius equation =>

s
k =A e

Ea
RT

(3) Linear form of Arrhenius equation =>

(4) Rate law => rate = k[A]m[B]n

lnk=

Ea
+lnA
RT

APPENDIX C SAMPLE CALCULATIONS