IodineTimeChangingChemicalReactionRates

Ackles,HannahHernandez,EvelynRuppel,Matt.
HighTechHighNorthCounty,SanMarcos,CA

1. Introduction
Chemicalreactionsareextremelyimportantinordertobetterunderstandourbodies,and
theyalsocreateenergyandothervaluablecomponentsthatmakeourplanetwhatitis.Reactions
occurwhentwomoleculesoratomscollide.Thetwocomponentsmustcollideintherightway
withtheperfectamountofenergyforthemtoreact.Inorderfortheatomsormoleculesto
collideintherightway,reactionsmustoccurwhennewbondsareformed.Thetwocomponents
needenoughenergytoovercomethebarriertoreaction.Acatalystallowsthereactiontogo
fastertoplotanewpathtomovearoundthebarrierthatispreventingthereaction.Inthis
experiment,chemicalsweremixedinorderforareactiontooccurintwominutes.Chemicals
thatwereusedincludeddistilledwater,ascorbicacidstocksolution(VitaminC),povidone
iodine,hydrogenperoxide,andstarch.Eachchemicalplayedanimportantrole.Ifonewas
changedslightly,thereactioncouldbeverydifferent.

2. ExperimentalProcedure
Alistofmaterialsandspecificmeasurementswereprovidedbeforeconductingthe
experiment.Materialsincludedfourbeakers,droppers,andthechemicals.Partnergroupswere
requiredtocreateadatatabletokeeptrackoftheamountofchemicalsandtimethatwasused
andcollected.Withinthefourbeakers,therearetwo100mLbeakers,whicharemeantfor
mixingthechemicals.ThebeakersarelabelledBeakerAandBeakerB.BeakerAcontained
tendropsofacid,25dropsofiodine,and5millilitersofdistilledwater.BeakerBconsistedof60
dropsof3%hydrogen,tendropsofstarch,and5millilitersofdistilledwater.Asmallerbeaker
wasdesignatedtopourcontentsfrombothbeakersintoandconductthereaction.Theoverall
goaloftheexperimentwastomakeaslightadjustmenttoonevariable,sothatthereactioncan
occurwithinfivetosixsecondsoftwominutes.Adjustmentsweremadeuntilasuccessful
conclusionwasfound.Teamshadrepeattheexperimentthreetotentimesandrecordtheir
results.

3. ScientificResults
Thedatatabledisplaystheresultsthatoccurredineachexperimentthatwasattempted.In
thebeginning,thehydrogenperoxidewasadjusted.Whentheamountofhydrogenperoxide
dropsdecreasedto30,thetimeincreasedslightly.Whenthedropsincreasedtoseventydrops,
thetimedecreasedtoomuch.Sincethetimeresultsseemedinconsistentandnorealprogresswas
beingmade,thehydrogenperoxidewasleftalonethereafter,andtheiodinewasplayedaround
with.Iodineseemedextremelysensitive,andagain,nothingwastrulybeingaccomplishedwhile
experimentingwithit.Thefinalattempttogetthereactiontimingrightwastochangethe

ascorbicacidstocksolution.Whenthedropswereincreasedbysmallamounts,progresswas
beingmade,andthetimewascreepingclosertotwominutes.However,afterafewmoretrials,
thetimeincreasedandtheresultswereveryinconsistent.Whenthelastattemptedexperiment
tooknineminutes,theexperimentwasabandoned.Noclearandconsistentresultswere
displayedafterthirteentrials.

Experiment

Iodine

Hydrogen

Starch

VitaminC

Time

25

60

10

15

2:20

25

30

10

15

2:40

25

70

10

15

0:39

25

45

10

15

1:27

45

60

10

15

0:01

20

60

10

15

0:30

20

60

10

15

25

60

10

15

1:45

25

60

10

17

1:50

10

25

60

10

17

3:18

11

25

60

10

16

3:54

12

25

60

10

15

2:25

13

25

60

10

13

9:00

TodescribetheVitaminCinmoredetail,thelinegraphbelowshowsthedropsofascorbicacid
thatwereusedineachtrialontheyaxis,andwhatthetimeoutcomewasforeachtrialasthe
xaxis.Theinconsistencyisobvious.Forexample,thefirsttimethatfifteendropsweretested,
thetimewasoneminuteandfortyfiveseconds,butwhenfifteendropsweretestedagainin
anothertrial,theresultwasexactlyaminuteofffromtheprevioustrial.Whenthirteendrops
wereusedinoneexperiment,thetimeresultwasnineminutes.Thereasonwhythetimingwas
unpredictablewasunclearduringtheexperiment,butaftermuchthought,thewaythatthe
experimentwasconductedplayedalargeroleinwhattheresultswere.

4. Conclusion
Althoughtherewasnoclearsolution,informationcanbetakenfromtheexperiments.
Thetimingwasveryinconsistent,butitwasconcludedthatascorbicacidwasverysensitiveand
delicate,whilehydrogenandstarchweretheopposite.Findingonespecificstrategytofindan
accurateresultwasverychallenging,andintheend,itwasnearlyimpossible.Ifmoretrialswere
attemptedandmoretimewasgiven,ananswercouldhavebeenfound,butenoughdatawas
found,sothatwasnotnecessary.Theinconsistencyoftheascorbicacidevidentlydisplayedthe
powerofatomsandmolecules.Onedropofascorbicacidcouldbethedifferenceofoneminute.
Additionally,thewaythateachtrialwasconductedplayedaroleinthetiming.Thelocationthat
Pasteurdropperwasplacedinthebeakerofhydrogenperoxideandascorbicacidcouldbethe
differenceofaminuteorseveralminutes.Asdiscoveredlateronintheexperiment,thedropper
hadtobeplacedintheexactlocationinthebeakereverytrialinordertohaveaccurateresults.
Reflectingontheexperiment,thePasteurdroppercouldhavebeenplacedmoreaccurately.If
anothersimilarexperimentwasconducted,itwouldhavebeenveryintriguingifallofthe
variablescouldhavebeenchangedinsteadofjustone.Perhapsmoresuccessfulresultscould
havebeenshownearlier.Anotherinterestingfollowupexperimentwouldbetochangethe
starchandseehowthatchemicalreactsintheexperiment.Duetotime,starchcouldnotbe
changed,butitwouldhavebeeninterestingtoplayaroundwithit.Inconclusion,unsuccessful
andinconsistenttrialsandresultscanbemorehelpfulthanonemightbelieve.

References

1. Ruppel,Matt."IodineClockReaction."
MattRuppel'sDigitalPortfolio
.N.p.,n.d.Web.
22Apr.2016.
http://mattruppeldp.weebly.com/iodineclockreaction.html
2. "Chapter3:IntroductiontoChemicalReactions."
Chapter3:IntroductiontoChemical
Reactions
.OKStateUniversity,n.d.Web.22Apr.2016.
http://intro.chem.okstate.edu/1314F02/Lecture/Chapter3/Molstuff/Lec9602.html
3.