Iodine Clock Reaction

Clarkson University Places Third in ChemE Car Competition

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The team was told an hour before the competition the distance the car must travel and the load the car must carry. For this year’s competition, cars had to travel 51 feet with a load of 400 grams. Based on extensive calibrations of the powering and stopping mechanisms that were carried out prior to the competition, the car was prepared for this year’s course when the team prepared an iodine solution to stop the car at an appropriate time. The car that was closest to the target distance was the winner. The ChemE Car Team is part of the SPEED (Student Projects for Engineering Experience & Design) program, one of the Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering hallmark initiatives, exemplifying Clarkson's “defy convention” approach to education. SPEED promotes multidisciplinary, project-based learning opportunities for more than 350 undergraduates annually. Projects involve engineering design, analysis, and fabrication. In addition, students learn real-world business skills, such as budget management, effective teamwork, and communications skills. Clarkson University launches leaders into the global economy. One in six alumni already leads as a CEO, VP or equivalent senior executive of a company. Located just outside the Adirondack Park in Potsdam, N.Y., Clarkson is a nationally recognized research university for undergraduates with select graduate programs in signature areas of academic excellence directed toward the world’s pressing issues. Through 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, sciences and health sciences, the entire learning-living community spans boundaries across disciplines, nations and cultures to build powers of observation, challenge the status quo, and connect discovery and engineering innovation with enterprise.

Iodine Clock Reaction Lab Answers | SchoolWorkHelper

In conclusion, from part A the order of reaction of the iodate was found to be 2.068 while the actual value is 2, and the percent error for this value was 3.4 %. The final rate law determined was:

In part B the activation energy was found to be 17817.334 J/mol*K and the frequency factor is 13845.43317.

Conclusions that can be drawn from the data is that when the concentration of the potassium iodate solution was increased the rate of reaction decreased. Another relationship that can be seen between the rate constant and the temperature is that as the temperature increased the rate constant increased as well.

All throughout the lab the assumption that is made throughout the lab is that the bisulfate ion has a reaction order of zero. This assumption will be further evaluated in the evaluation of the weaknesses and limitations.

Evaluation

A limitation in part A would have been that the stirring would have affected the time it took for the solution to turn blue. Some of the tubes may have gotten more stirred than others and this would have caused an inaccuracy in the times that were collected. Also some solutions turned blue right away and others took a while so they could be seen by the human eye. Better collection techniques such as spectrometry should have been used because then when ion changed colour it would be detected right away.  As well another way that the procedure can be improved upon is to perform the lab like a titration lab using a burette, flask and the indicator.

Also because the assumption was made that the reaction order of the bisulfate was zero because it was constant throughout may have affected the results as well. The experiment should have been done both ways to have the most accurate results. Instead of the iodate ion concentration being changed the concentration of the bisulfate could have been changed by making it the limiting reactant in the balanced equations.

Lastly a limitation in part B is that a final temperature for the solution could not be measured because of all of the surrounding influences such as holding the tube would have transferred heat to the solution. Also, when the tube was taken out the bath tub the room temperature immediately affected it, constantly changing the final reaction. Instead of this method the experiment should have been done in the bath tub where it wouldn’t have been as much as affected by the surrounding temperatures.