Vi-An Nguyen

Lab 7
Lab partner: Natalie Garr
March 7, 2013
Chemical Kinetics and the Determination of Reaction Mechanisms
Purpose: The purpose of this lab was to determine the reaction order for each reactant. By using
the spectrophotometry, which shows the wavelength of light absorbed can help find the
concentration of triioide when it is being reacted with cyclohexane, hydrochloric acid and
ionized water. The initial concentrations of reactants, molar extinction coefficient for I3- which is
found by using Beers law, initial rate, reaction order for reactant, and rate constant, will all help
to determine the activation energy. The rates can be found by the integrated rate law, which will
ultimately be used to find the activation energy to generate Arrhenius plot. By doing this
experiment, the effect of temperature on reaction rates can be understood.

Procedure: The procedure used followed that given in the procedures in: General Chemistry II
Lab, Experiment 2, Winter Quarter 2012-2013, DePaul University, Department of Chemistry.
[Online] https://d2l.depaul.edu (accessed March 6, 2013).
Experiment 9 was eliminated from the results

Data and Results:

Table 1: The initial concentrations, rates, and k constants from group A and B for [H+], [C6H8O],
and [I3-] for runs 1-6.
+

Run #

[H ]

[C6H8O]

[I3 ]

1
2
3
4
5
6

0.069
0.137
0.147
0.147
0.147
0.147

0.074
0.074
0.034
0.068
0.074
0.074

0.00390
0.00392
0.00392
0.00392
0.00235
0.00471

Group A
Rate
k
(M*min-1)
0.0110
5.80*
0.0125
1.26*
0.0111
5.60*
0.0105
1.06*
0.0111
1.21*
0.0104
1.12*

Group B
Rate
k
(M*min-1)
0.0110
5.79*
0.0135
1.36*
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a

The table above displays the calculated concentrations by using the formula M1V1=M2V2, and
also it displays the rates and k value found by both groups A and B.

Table 2: The temperature, rate and k constant for runs 6A through 8.

Run #
6A
6B
7
8

T(C)
20.9
19.9
30.0
40.0

Rate (M*min-1)
1.12*
1.16*
2.26*
3.12*

k
0.0104
0.0107
n/a
n/a

The table above displays the temperature dependence experiment for the runs.

Figure 1: Initial rates for the partial order determination.

The graph above represents run1 and run 2 along with the slope that was used to find the partial
orders for the reactant of [H+].

Figure 2: Arrhenius plot

The graph above displays the active energy from the slope during the trials from 6-8.

Sample Calculations:

Initial concentrations of reactants:

To calculate the initial concentration of a reactant, use equation 1 below and multiply the diluted
concentration and the initial volume, then divide by the final volume.
M1V1=M2V2
(0.500 M of [H+])(0.35mL)= (M2) (2.55 mL)
M2=0.0686 M

(1)

Molar extinction coefficient for I3-:

To find the molar extinction coefficient, Beers law is used. A is the absorbance, b is the length
of the instrument, and c is the concentration of [I3-] shown in equation 2.
A=abc

(2)

0.379=a (1 cm) (0.0039

a=97.82 L*mol-1*cm-1

Initial rate:
The initial rate is found by the estimated molar absorptivity and is found on the slope of a plot
[I3-] vs. time from the first set of data points in the experiment.
Initial rate=-5.79

M*min-1

Reaction order for reactant:

To calculate the order for x, take the rate 1 divided by the rate 2, which is equivalent to the
concentrations shown in equation 3. After, divide the concentration of rate 1 and concentration of
rate 2. Then once both the rates and concentration are found, take the log of both sides, which
will calculate the partial order for x.
(4)

0.427306=
0.427306=0.503649

Log (0.4273060) =xlog (0.503649)

x=1.21

Rate constant:
To calculate the rate constant (k), use equation 5 as shown below, and divide the initial rate by
the initial concentrations of each reactant with its order.

Rate=k [H+ [C6H8O [I3-

5.79*

(5)

=k [0.069 [0.074]1[0.039]0

k= 0.0113396

Activation energy:
To calculate the activation energy, find the slope by making a graph and then multiply that by the
R constant value shown in equation 6.
Slope=

-27328 K=

Ea=227 kJ/mol

(6)

Summary:
The rate law for the experiment is rate=0.01133.14E-05 [0.069]1[0.074]1[0.039]0. After being
calculated, the average k value for all the runs at room temperature came out to be
0.01140.00106. The activation energy came out to be 2227 kJ/mol.

Discussion:
For the experiment, the rate-limiting step was the triiodide because it was the slowest step since
it took a long time for the absorbance to keep mixing with the other concentrations. Also, that it
kept decreasing throughout the whole 15 minutes and took a really long time. For every 10C
increase temperature, the reaction rates did not double. The reaction rate did increase however,
but from 30C to 40C, the rate did not double. If the temperature at 20C to 30C were
compared, then the reaction rates were double and the rule of thumb would be valid. In this case,
the rule of thumb is not valid.