MeasuringTimeofColorChangeReactionwithDifferentAmounts

ofPovidoneIodineSolution

CelesteR.Kucan,JasmineR.Gillie,andMatthewJ.Ruppel
HighTechHighNorthCounty,SanMarcos,CA,92078
Thursday,April14,2016

Introduction
Chemicalreactionsareabigpartoflife.Theyrehappeningallaroundtheworld,and
eveninsidethehumanbody,whichmakesitaprettyimportanttopictounderstand.
Chemicalreactionsoccurwiththerearrangementofatomstobecomemorechemically
stable.Morespecifically,ithappenswhenbondsinonesubstancecalledthereactantarebroken
toformnewbondscreatinganewsubstancewhichisknownastheproducts.
Thecollisiontheoryisusedtopredicttheratesofwhetherachemicalreactionwilloccur.
Inorderfortwomoleculestoreact,theyhavetocollideinjusttherightwayandhavejustthe
rightamountofenergy.Youcanthinkofthemlikepuzzlepieceswheretheyonlyfittogetherin
aspecificway.Thoughevenifitdoeshappentohavethecorrectorientation,itwilljustbounce
rightoffunlessitpassestheactivationenergy.Itactsasasortofwallandinorderforthe
reactantstobreakthrough,ithastohaveanenergylevelthatisequaltoorgreaterthanthe
activationenergy.Thoughthereareafewsolutionstolowerthebarrierwhichistochangethe
temperatureorbyaddingacatalysttothereactionwhichwillreducetheAEwithoutbeingused
up.1
Asthetemperatureisraised,sodoesthereactionrate.Therateofreactiondoublesfor
aboutevery10degreescelsiusriseintemperature,andchangesgraduallyasthetemperature
changes.Thoughthisisnottrueforeveryreactionandthenumbersmaychangeslightly
dependingonwhatisbeingtested.Thishappensbecausewhentheparticlesareheatedthemove
fasterresultinginahigherchanceofcollidingintooneanotherwithalargeenoughenergylevel
topasstheactivationbarrier.2
Thehighertheconcentrationofreactants,thefasterthereactionwilltakeplace.Andthe
moredilutedthesolutionis,thelongeritwilltake.Thisisbecausewhenthesolutionhasalow
concentrationthereislessofachancefortheparticlestocollidebecauseoftheextraspace

Clark,J.TheCollisionTheoryofReactionRates.Anintroductiontothecollisiontheoryinratesofreaction,
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/basicrates/introduction.html(accessedApr22,2016).
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/basicrates/introduction.html
2

Clark,J.Theeffectoftemperatureonratesofreaction.TheEffectofTemperatureonReactionRates,
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/basicrates/temperature.html(accessedApr22,2016).
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/basicrates/temperature.html
1

betweeneachoneversusahighconcentrationwheretheparticlesaremorecloselycompacted.
Thisistrueforliquidsaswellassolids.3
Therewerefourdifferentchemicalreactionsthattookplacethroughoutourexperiment.
Whenhydrogenperoxidecombinedwithiodineandtwohydrogenmolecules,itproduced
elementalIodineandwater(H
2
O2
+2I+2H=I

2
+4H
2
O).Thisisaslowreactionandisalso
theratedeterminingstep.ThentheelementalIodinecombineswithascorbicacidandinstantly
producesIodineand2hydrogenthatbrokeoffoftheascorbicacid,whicharethenusedinthe
firstreaction(I
2
+C
6
H8
O6

=C

6
H8
O6

2H+2I).Thisreactionhappensalmostinstantaneouslyand

isusuallywaitingaroundforthefirstreactiontocomplete,Thesetwochemicalreactionsare
cyclingthroughoverandoveragainataninsanelyfastrate.ThoughwhenCrunsout,thesecond
reactioncannottakeplace,sotheresabuildupofthefirstreaction.Thentheresararereaction
thattakesplacewhenelementaliodinecombineswithiodinetomaketrilodideion(I
2
+I=I
3
).
Lastly,starchcombineswithiodinetomaketrilodidestarchwhichtakesonacolorfromyellow
topurple(C
6
H1
0
O5
+I=C

6
H1
0
O5
I).4

Thehypothesisforthisexperimentwasthatbychangingthenumberofdropsofiodineto
haveahigherconcentration,thetimebeforethecolorchangewouldspeedup.

Experimental
Two200mLbeakerswerelabeledAandBsothattheywontgetmixedup.Forthefirst
test,beakerAcontained10dropsofascorbicacid,25dropsofiodine,and5mLofdistilled
waterthatwasmeasuredoutinagraduatedcylinder.Thenitwasmixedtogetridofthe
brownishcoloruntilitwasclear.BeakerBcontained60dropsofhydrogenperoxide,10dropsof
starch,and5mLofdistilledwater.Theywerethensimultaneouslypouredintoasmallerbeaker
of50mLasatimerwasstarted.Oncethecolorinthebeakerchangedcolorthetimerwas
stoppedandthenumberwasrecordedinatable.Theprocedurewasdonemultipletimeswhile
onlychangingtheamountofiodinebecauseitwaspredictedthatitwouldhavethemosteffectof
thecolorduetothefactthatitwastheonlysolutionoutofthefourthatwasnotclear.Thegoal
wastocreateasubstancethatwouldchangecolorswithin114and126seconds.5

MaterialsUsed:
Distilledwater
2200mLbeakers
150mLbeakers
125mLgraduatedcylinder
Ascorbicacidstocksolution

Clark,J.Theeffectoftemperatureonratesofreaction.TheEffectofTemperatureonReactionRates,
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/basicrates/temperature.html(accessedApr22,2016).

http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/basicrates/concentration.html#top
4

Kucan,CeceR.IodineClockReactions.
MyChemistryNotebook
.
2015
,46.
5

Ruppel,MattJ.IodineClockReaction.MattRuppel'sDigitalportfolio,
http://mattruppeldp.weebly.com/iodineclockreaction.html(accessedApr22,2016).

http://mattruppeldp.weebly.com/iodineclockreaction.html
3

Povidoneiodinesolution
Hydrogenperoxide(3%)solution
Starchsolution

ResultsandDiscussion
Inthisexperiment,thenumberofdropsofIodinewaschanged.Thenumberwas
switchedaroundalotandwitheachnewdatapoint,itbecameclearerhowmanydropsshouldbe
addedtomakeitinthetimeslotbeforethecolorchangedtoyellow.Allthedatacollectedwas
recordedontothetablebelow.

TheIodineClockReaction
Ascorbic
Acid

Povidone
Iodine

Hydrogen
Peroxide

Starchy
Starch

Distilled
Water

Time
(milliseconds
)

10

60

10

5mL

7:03:00

10

15

60

10

5mL

3:34:68

10

15

60

10

5mL

3:18:84

10

16

60

10

5mL

2:17:46

10

16

60

10

5mL

1:28:03

10

18

60

10

5mL

2:20:80

10

20

60

10

5mL

1:08:96

10

25

60

10

5mL

0:34:61

Someofthedatapointsforthenumberofdropsarelistedtwicebecauseofsome
irregularitiesthatwerefound.Thereactiontimeshouldhavecontinuedtodecreaseasthe
numberofdropsincreased,thoughthatdoesnotseemtobethecase.Thisseemstobebecause
theexperimentwasperformedoverthecourseofafewdaysandsomeofthesolutionswere
dilutedfrombeingexposedtoairorlight.
Thoughdespitetheimperfectdatacollected,themainideaofthelabcouldstillbe
identifiedandaroughestimateonhowmanydropsofiodineneededforthereactiontimetobe
114to126canbemade.Basedonthetable,itcouldbepredictedthatthenumberofdropswould

beanythingbetween16and18,thoughthefigurebelowseemstobeshowingsomething
different.

Thegraphaboveshowsthetimeuntilthecolorchangeaccordingtohowmanydropsof
Iodinewasused.Thelineofbestfitshowsasteadydeclinewithanegativeslopeofabout1drop
forevery22seconds.Thisconfirmsthatthehigherconcentrationofiodinesolution,thelesstime
isneededbeforethecolorchanges.Thoughlookingat114to126secondsonthelineofbestfit,
itshowsthatthereshouldbe18drops.Thisstillfitswiththeearlierassumptionthatwasmade
usingthetable.

Conclusion
Theexperimentshowednotonlythebehaviorofthisspecificsolution,butalsoconfirmed
theassumptionthatbychangingasmallamountofachemicalcangreatlychangetheoutcome.
Thefindingsthroughthelabperformedshowedthatthehypothesiswascorrectthehigherthe
concentrationofiodine,thefasterthereactionwilloccur.Theexperimentcouldbeperformed
threemoretimes,changingthevariabletoseehoweachchemicalchangesthereactiontime.