TheTimeitTakesforaCertainAmountofAscorbicAcidtoReact

withotherVariousSubstances
SantaRomana,AdrianneMarez,JordynRuppel,Matt
10thGradeChemistryClass,HighTechHighNorthCounty,SanMarcos,CA

Introduction
Reactionsareaboutcollisions.Inorderfortwomolecules/atomstohavethechancetoreactthetwo
molecules/atomsmustcollideintherightwaypromotingbondformation.Whencollidingwitheachotherthe
energylevelshouldbeenoughtoovercometheenergybarrier.Manythingsareattractedtoplaceswherethereis
lowerenergy,andwhenareactionbeginsitthetwoelementsstartatthetop.Ittakestheactivationenergy(E
)to
A
startthereaction,howeveracatalystissomethingthatlowerstheE
withoutbeingusedup.
Areactionatahigh
A
[1]
ratemeansthatthemoleculesarecollidingatarelativelyfastratherthanonewithalowrate.
Thecollisiontheorystatesthattherearemoretheonecollisionsoccurringinthereaction.Themore
moleculesthereare,thereactionratebecomesfasterandmorelikelytocomplete.Therateofthereactionare
affectedbybymultiplevariables.Molecules/atomsareconstantlyreactingwithwithanotherandthetemperatureis
oneofthemanyfactors.Thehigherthetemperature,themoleculestendtomovealotfasterthanwheninalower
temperature.Theyhavemoreenergyandahigherchanceofcollidingwithoneanother.Asthetemperaturedrops,
themoleculesmoveslowerthereforelessreactionswillhappenbecausetheycollideless.Themorethe
concentrationofasubstancethereisintheexperimentthegreaterthereactionwillhappenaswell.Theopposite
happenswhenthereislessoftheconcentration.Whenthepressureincreasesthemoleculeshavelessspacetomove
aroundtherefore,collidingwithanothermorefrequentlycausingafasterreaction.
[2]
Thereactionthatoccursbetweenthesubstancesisastepbystepprocess.WhenHydrogenPeroxideand
IodidearecombinedtheycreateIodine.TheIodinethenreactswiththeAscorbicacidtillthatsubstancerunsout.
Lastly,theIodinereactswiththeStarch.Oncetheliquidbeginstochangecolour,thecycleofreactionscometoa
stop.Forthisexperiment,Ascorbicacidwasusedtoseehowitwouldreacttoothersubstancesdependingonthe
amount.Itisanacidtheyareusuallyamoleculeoranotherformthatsharesprotonsortakeselectronsduringa
reaction.
Statedinthecollisiontheoryisthatwhentheconcentrationisincreasedthereactionofthesubstances
[3]
becomesfaster.However,thereissomethingaboutacidsthatmighthaveadifferenteffect.Itcouldbethatbecause
therearemoremoleculeswhenincreasingtheamountofascorbicacid,thereactionbecomesslower.

Experimental
Thematerialsused:
Distilledwater
2100mLbeakers
1250mLbeaker
125mlgraduatedcylinder
AscorbicAcidStocksolution(VitaminC)
PovidoneIodinesolution
HydrogenPeroxide(3%)solution
Starchsolution
Innotebooks,datatablescollectedtheamountofAscorbicAcid,Iodine,HydrogenPeroxide(3%),starch
andthetimeittookforthereactiontocomplete.Theexperimentstartedoffbylabelingthethreebeakers,Beaker
A,BeakerB,andtheReactionbeaker.Topreventanyotherchemicalsfrommessingwiththereaction,
distilled/purifiedwaterwasused.Fortheinitialtest,beakerAcontained10dropsofascorbicacid,25dropsof

iodine,and5mL(ineachtestforbothbeakers5mLofwaterwasusedtokeepitconsistant)ofwater.InbeakerB
thechemicalswere60dropsofhydrogenperoxide(3%),10dropsofstarchsolution,and5mLofwater.
Inthereactionbeaker,bothbeakerAandbeakerBweresimultaneouslymixedtogether.Oncethetwo
substancesconnectedwithoneanotherthetimerstartedtofigureoutthereactiontime.Afterwritingdownthedata
inthetablethenexttestwastochangeoneofthevariable.Thatvariablewastheonlyonethatwouldchange,
decreasingorincreasingtheamountofdropsinordertogetthereactiontohappenattwominutes.
Results&Discussion

Initial

AmountofAscorbicAcid

10drops

20drops

15drops

AmountofIodine

25drops

25drops

25drops

AmountofHydrogenPeroxide(3%)

60drops

60drops

60drops

AmountofStarch

10drops

10drops

10drops

00:45

09:30

02:00

ReactionTime

Itdidnttakemorethan3testtofindtherightamountofascorbicacidfortheclearliquidtobecomea
yellowishorangecolourintwominutes.Since10dropsresultedinreactiontimeof45seconds,doublingthe
concentrationmayincreasethetime.Itdoesntnecessarilyfollowtherulethatwhenthereismoreconcentration
thereactiontimewillspeedup.Infact,ascorbicacidworkedtheoppositeway.(
SeeTableandGraph
)
Fromthedatacollected,itwasdifficulttofigureoutwhathappenedwiththeascorbicacid.Thepressure
didntchangenordidthetemperature,andaddingmoreconcentrationshouldhaveincreasedthespeedofthe
reaction.Itwasasifitweretryingtoreversethereaction.AddingmoreconcentrationofAscorbicacidmayhave
spedupthereactionfortheparticularstepinthecycleofreactionsmentionedintheintroduction.However,ittooka
longertimeforthewholecycletomakeacompletestop,turningtheintoadifferentcolour.

Initial

AmountofAscorbicAcid

10drops

10drops

10drops

AmountofIodine

25drops

30drops

10drops

AmountofHydrogenPeroxide(3%)

60drops

60drops

60drops

AmountofStarch

10drops

10drops

10drops

01:17

00:27

06:49

ReactionTime

Inthesecondtestonadifferentday,thevariable,iodinewastheonethatchangethroughoutexperiment.
Although,thetestwasntcompletedtohavethereactiontimebetwominutes,therewassignificantdatathatwas
collected.Adayhaspassedandbecausethechemicalshavebeensittingintheroom,theinitialtestwasdoneagain
Thistimethereactionhappenedwasataminuteand17seconds,32secondsslowerthantheinitialthathappenedon
day1.Theiodineseemedtobethechemicalthatwasmostreactiveandsensitiveinthisexperiment.Judgingthatthe
coloroftheiodinesolutionitwasmostlikelythatitwasthemaincauseofthereaction,cleartoyellow.Fromthe
test,aclearhypothesiswasmadethattheamountofiodinetomakethereactionhappenattwominuteswouldbe

around15drops.Seeingthedata,iodinereactscompletelyoppositefromhowascorbicaciddoes.Everytimethe
concentrationincreasesthetimeittakestoreactbecomesfaster.
Inthegraphbelow,becausethereisntalotofdatapoints,theaccuracyoftherateofthereactionisntvery
highforascorbicacidthanitisforiodine.Itwouldhavebeenmorehelpfultomakemoretestsofthesubstanceto
findoutmoreabouthowthesubstancereactstotheotherchemicals.Itlooksasifascorbicacidbehavesdifferently
fromiodine,withanincreasingslopeforascorbicacidanddecreasingforiodine.

Conclusions
FromthisexperimentmajortakeawayswouldbethatAscorbicacidreacteddifferentlyfromthethree
factorsofthereactions.Itdidntreactfasterwhentheconcentrationofthesubstancewasincreased.Itdidonlytake
2othertestsasidefromtheinitialonetogetthereactiontohappenattwominutes.Itwasenoughtothatthemore
ascorbicacidinthemixedsolutionthelongeritwouldtaketoreact.Itwouldhavebeennicetotakemoretesttofind
aclearerreactionrate.Withonly3datapoints,itsnotenoughforapreciseconclusionontherateofchange.
Furtherdirections,mayincludemoretestonascorbicacidaswellasfindingouttheotherreactionratesof
theotherchemicals.Thiswouldhelpfindouthoweachsubstancereactswithoneanother.Itwouldalsobeniceto
comparetheratesofeachofthechemicals.
References
[1]Lecturenotes
[2]RateofReactions<
http://www.chem4kids.com/files/react_rates.html
>(accessedApr.20,2016)
[3]Acid<
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/acid
>(accessedApr.21,2016)