Purpose of experiment:

This experiment was carried out to determine the order of reaction with respect to

concentration of sodium thiosulfates by addition of distilled water to manipulate the

concentration of thiosulfate solution. Stoichiometric calculations were then carried out in order

to obtain the specific order of reaction with respect to sodium thiosulfates.

Variables:

Independent variables Method of application

Concentration of sodium thiosulphate.
The concentration of sodium thiosulphate
added to the conical flask at each interval was
varied by manipulating the volume of sodium
thiosulphate added and the addition of
distilled water. At any given interval the
collective volume of water and sodium
thiosulphate is fixed at 50cm3.

Dependent variables Response of method

Time taken for cross to disappear, t. The time taken for the cross mark to
disappear was recorded using a digital
stopwatch.

Controlled variables Method of controlling

Volume of Hydrochloric acid, 2 mol𝑑𝑚−3
added.
Concentration of Hydrochloric acid used.
The volume of HCl added every interval was
kept constant at 10cm3 by using a measuring
cylinder.
The concentration of hydrochloric acid used
was kept constant at 2 moldm-3
Introduction:

A timed reaction between sodium thiosulfate of varied concentrations and hydrochloric

acid was carried out to determine the order of reaction with respect to concentration of sodium

thiosulfate. In theory, when sodium thiosulfate is added to hydrochloric acid a reaction would

occur to form sulphur, sulphur dioxide, sodium chloride and water. The main goal of the

experiment is to determine the order of reaction with respect to sodium thiosufates. This was

done via manipulating the concentration of sodium thiosulfate used in the reaction with

hydrochloric acid and recording the rate of reaction to calculate the order of reaction.

Background theory:

In the study of matter and natural phenomena, an understanding of chemical reactions

and how they occur is vital for research and development of new technologies and scientific

advancements. A chemical reaction occurs when two of the same of different chemical species

are mixed together and it’s particles collide with each other in order to break forces of attraction.

This may lead to two of the species combining their constituent particles forming a new species.

Chemical reactions are timed in order to study the effect of manipulating different aspects

of the reactants. Timed observations usually involve the formation of products measured in either

mass or volume per unit time. In this instance, the time taken for the “X” mark to disappear from

view is recorded. The precipitate formed is a product of the reaction and completely opaques the

entire solution over time.

 For this experiment, the concentration of sodium thiosulphate is manipulated whereas the

other reactant of hydrochloric acid remains constant in concentration. As mentioned before, for

any chemical reaction to take place; two particles must collide with each other. According to the

collision theory, as the concentration of a particular reactant is increased the number of effective

collisions between particles increases. Thus, leading to a higher rate of reaction.

Rates of reaction are important values required to determine the order of reaction . To put

it simply ,the order of a reaction is the the sum of the exponents of its concentration terms.

Orders of reaction cannot simply be determined by looking at chemical equations. Experiments

are carried out to obtain rates of reaction beforehand. Take for example, experiments are

conducted to find out what occurs to the rate of reaction as the concentration of one of the

reactants, A changes. One possibility is that the rate of reaction is proportional to the

concentration of A. So technically, if the concentration of A doubles then the rate of reaction also

doubles. This relationship can be expressed in symbols :

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝛼 [𝐴]

The squared bracket indicates the concentration of a certain reactant in moldm3. The

proportionality sign can be rid of by adding a constant, K to form an equation.

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝐾[𝐴]
 K is also known as the rate constant. Another case with the same example could be that

the rate of reaction being directly proportional to the cube of the concentration A. This means

that if you increased the concentration by two times it would be increased by eight times. In

symbol and equation terms:

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝛼 [𝐴]3

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝐾 [𝐴]3

In general, by conducting an experiment between reactants A and B. You would find the

rate of reaction to be related to the concentrations of A and B in this manner:

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝐾[𝐴]𝑎 [𝐵]𝑏

This is also known as the rate equation of a reaction. The concentrations of A and B have

to be raised to some degree of power to show how they affect the rate of reaction. These powers

are called the orders of reaction with respect to A and B. If the order of reaction for

concentration A is zero (A0), this means that the rate of reaction is not affected by the

concentration of A. The particular term can be excluded from the rate equation since its value

equates to 1 having a power of zero.

Overall order of reaction can be determined by addition of each individual order. If the

reaction is first order with respect to A and B (a=2 and b=2). Then the overall order of reaction is

2. Hence, the reaction can be called an overall second order reaction. The rate constant K, is not

always the same value. It is only constant in a reaction if the concentration of reactants are

changed. Addition of a catalyst, changing the catalyst or modifying the temperature may result in

a different rate constant value.

 Materials and apparatus:

Materials  Sodium thiosulfate, 0.32 moldm-3

 Hydrochloric acid, 2 moldm-3
 Distilled water
Apparatus  Conical flask, 100cm3
 Measuring cylinder, 10cm3
 Measuring cylinder, 50cm3
 Liquid dropper
 Paper
 Permanent marker
 White tile
 Digital stopwatch

Apparatus Uncertainty
Conical flask ±25cm3
Measuring cylinder, 10cm3 ±0.1cm3
Measuring cyllinder, 50cm3 ±0.5cm3
 Experimental procedures:

1. A piece of paper was marked with an X shape using a permanent marker.

2. The X marked paper was then placed on top of a white tile.

3. A conical flask was positioned on top of the X marked paper resting on the white tile.

4. Using a 50cm3 measuring cylinder, 50cm3 of sodium thiosulfate, 0.32 moldm-3 was added

to the conical flask.

5. Then, 10cm3 of hydrochloric acid, 2 moldm-3 was added to the conical flask and the

stopwatch was started.

6. The stopwatch was stopped once the observed X mark disappeared from view.

7. The time taken for the X mark to disappear from view was recorded.

8. Steps 4-7 were repeated using different volumes of sodium thiosulfate with the addition

of distilled water adding up to 50cm3 collectively.

Safety precautions:

Hazard Safety precaution

1.Handling of corrosive substances: Hydrochloric
acid
2.Handling of experimental apparatus.
3.Harmful gaseous product release from chemical
reaction.
 Always wear goggles when handling
corrosive substances to avoid damage to
eyes.
 Gloves are to be worn when handling
corrosive materials.
 Ensure that substances of corrosive
nature are handled with full attention
and care.
 Handle fragile glass apparatus with care
to avoid injury and breakage of glass.
 Wear covered shoes to avoid injury
from falling apparatus.
 Lab coat is to be worn when entering the
lab and thruought the conducting of the
experiment.
 Wear a mask at all times when handling
gas released by chemical reaction.
 Observations and results:

Raw data

Volume of Volume of Volume of Time taken for X Original 1/Time taken.

sodium distilled hydrochloric mark to disappear.(s) concentration (s-1)
thiosulphate water acid t1 t2 Average of sodium
used.(cm3) used.(cm3) used.(cm3) thiosulphate.
(gdm-3)
50 0 10 8.53 10.0 9.27 50.6 0.108
40 10 10 13.3 13.3 13.3 40.5 0.0752
30 20 10 17.1 18.4 17.8 30.4 0.0562
20 30 10 28.4 27.5 28.0 20.3 0.0357
10 40 10 59.5 59.8 59.7 10.1 0.0168

*At any given interval, the total volume of sodium thiosulphate and distilled water is always

equivalent to 50cm3 in the conical flask.

Processed data:

Calculations for initial concentration of sodium thiosulphate.

50𝑚𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 = 0.32𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑚−3

= 0.32 × 158.2 = 𝟓𝟎. 𝟔𝒈𝒅𝒎−𝟑

40𝑚𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 + 10𝑚𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐻2 𝑂 = 0.256𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑚−3 = 0.256 × 158.2 = 𝟒𝟎. 𝟓𝒈𝒅𝒎−𝟑

𝐶1 𝑉1 = 𝐶2 𝑉2

0.32(0.04) = 𝐶2 (0.05)

𝐶2 = 0.256𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑚−3
30𝑚𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 + 20𝑚𝑙 𝐻2 𝑂 = 0.192𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑚−3 = 0.192 × 158.2 = 𝟑𝟎. 𝟒𝒈𝒅𝒎−𝟑

𝐶1 𝑉1 = 𝐶2 𝑉2

0.32(0.03) = 𝐶2 (0.05)

𝐶2 = 0.192𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑚−3

20𝑚𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 + 30𝑚𝑙 𝐻2 𝑂 = 0.128𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑚−3 = 0.128 × 158.2 = 𝟐𝟎. 𝟑𝒈𝒅𝒎−𝟑

𝐶1 𝑉1 = 𝐶2 𝑉2

0.32(0.03) = 𝐶2 (0.05)

𝐶2 = 0.128𝑔𝑑𝑚−3

10𝑚𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 + 40𝑚𝑙 𝐻2 𝑂 = 0.064𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑚−3 = 0.064 × 158.2 = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟏𝒈𝒅𝒎−𝟑

𝐶1 𝑉1 = 𝐶2 𝑉2

0.32(0.01) = 𝐶2 (0.05)

𝐶2 = 0.064𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑚−3
Calculation of orders of reaction

𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 + 𝐻𝐶𝑙 → 𝑆 + 𝑆𝑂2 + 2𝑁𝑎𝐶𝑙 + 𝐻2 𝑂

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝐾[𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 ]𝑎 [𝐻𝐶𝑙]𝑏

Order of reaction for acid is assumed to be zero. Hence, b=0.

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝐾[𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 ]𝑎

Experiment no. Initial concentration of Sodium Rate of reaction, 1/t. (s-1)

thiosulphate, 𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3. (gdm-3)
1 50.6 0.108
2 40.5 0.0752
3 30.4 0.0562
4 20.3 0.0357
5 10.1 0.0168

Using rate equation of :

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝐾[𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 ]𝑎

Comaparing experiment 4 and 5

𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 5: [𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 ] = 10.1 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 0.0168

𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 4: [𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 ] = 20.3 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 0.0357

20.3 0.0357
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 𝑜𝑓 [𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 ] = 10.1 = 𝟐 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 0.0168 = 𝟐

Since, the rate of reaction doubles as the concentration of sodium thiosulphate doubles. The

order of reaction with respect to sodium thiosulphate is first order. Hence, the value of a=1 in the

rate equation. 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝐾[𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 ]

Calculating the rate constant K.

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝐾[𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 ]

Using data from experiment 4, the rate constant is calculated:

0.0168 = 𝐾[10.4]

0.0168
𝐾= = 5.94 × 10−3 𝑑𝑚3 𝑔−1 𝑠 −1
10.4

1/t against concentration graph.

A graph of 1/t against time was plot using the raw data and calculations made above. With 1/t

representing the rate of reaction. The graph indicates that the rate of reaction is directly

proportional to the concentration of sodium thiosulphate.

Discussion:

1.
 Reference list:

Clark, J. (2002) ORDERS OF REACTION AND RATE EQUATIONS Available at:

https://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/basicrates/orders.html#top (Accessed:21 March 2018)

Shahbaz, S. , Iskandar, A. And Lower, S. (2016) Reaction Order Available at:

https://chem.libretexts.org/Core/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry/Kinetics/Rate_Laws/The_

Rate_Law/Reaction_Order (Accessed:21 March 2018)