Teacher Notes

Lab The Iodine Clock & Reaction Rate

Summary Students use the iodine clock reaction to investigate several factors affecting reaction rate temperature, concentration, and catalysts. Surface area is not specifically addressed. Time Frame: 1 hour. Chemistry Concepts: factors affecting reaction rate, catalysts, collision theory Solution Preparation Solutions must be made fresh, no older than a day. One liter of each is usually enough for classes if !" m# is used for each mi$ing. %f you &ant to use a larger volume for a more impressive reaction, 'ust double amounts. Solution (: Solution 0: ).* grams +%O* ,potassium iodate- in deioni.ed or distilled &ater to make 1./ liter. /.) grams 1a2SO* ,sodium bisulfite./ m# 1./ 3 2"SO) ,one molar sulfuric acid- or e4uivalent about "5* grams of soluble starch ,The instructions originally called for ) grams of starch, but this makes a very cloudy li4uid. % gradually add starch until it begins to get cloudy, then 4uit. 6o not heat the starch solution as some instructions for a starch solution may tell you. Some friends have told me that they simply spray some aerosol fabric starch into the other ingredients for the source of starch. % also tried using the soluble starch packing 7peanuts,8 but found they make a very cloudy li4uid, too.distilled or deioni.ed &ater to make 1./ liter solution

Procedure Notes 0y assigning 'obs to various students, about half of the class &ill be involved actively in some &ay. Others &ill be recording data on t&o papers, one for himself and a second for a classmate &ho is &orking. Five students &ill be timing, one &ill be recording times on the board, one &ill be mi$ing solutions, t&o more &ill be measuring solutions and another one or t&o could be assigned to clean beakers for the ne$t session. Students involved &ith or near the solutions should be &earing goggles and aprons. Since the color of the product is dark bluish5black, the student doing the mi$ing could &ear a &hite lab coat rather than a black lab apron to better see the color change. (lso, if the mi$ing student can hold the small beaker &ith thumb and inde$ fingers, the other fingers &ill be less likely to block vie& of the reaction. ,#ike sipping tea from a cup &ith pinkie properly e$tended.- The t&o students measuring should each be responsible for one solution &ith separate graduated cylinders for ( and 0. 9ross contamination &ill affect reaction times. % usually don:t tell the students &hat to e$pect and don:t pass out the lab papers until they have seen the reaction. (fter going over the procedure, % have them do a trial timing to get used to the stop&atches. 0y eliminating the high and lo& times, many mistakes are eliminated. ,;ou may remind them that in many sports competitions, the high and lo& 'udges: scores are eliminated.The first recorded trial is the control, against &hich the other trials &ill be compared and should re4uire around 1 to "/ seconds to sho& the color change.

Teacher Notes The second trial is described as 7&arm solution (8. % set the beaker containing the " m# on a hot plate until it is steaming a bit, maybe </=9. 6o not heat it to boiling and do not heat solution 0, the starch solution. %f the starch is 7cooked,8 the reaction &ill yield a barely noticeable pinkish to stra& colored product. >$pect this trial to be 51/ seconds faster than the first trial. The third trial is 7cool solution (,8 &hich has been placed in an ice bath. This trial should take 51 seconds longer than the control. The fourth trial is 7diluted solution (.8 ?se half as much of the prepared solution ( as usual, and then add &ater to make the usual " m# ,1". m# of solution ( and 1". m# &ater, in our e$ample-. This trial &ill take " to * times longer than the control. The fifth trial is 7addition of a catalyst to solution (.8 This reaction is cataly.ed by 9uSO ) solution. % add enough to give solution ( in the beaker a slight blue tint, maybe " to * m# of a concentrated solution. 3ake sure the students reali.e that the pale blue color is due to the added catalyst and not the product. The time for this trial should be faster than the control, but probably not as fast as the &armed solution. (nother factor that affects the rate of reaction is si.e ,surface area- of the reacting particles. (fter discussing this factor &ith students and making a hypothesis, you can demonstrate this factor by holding a nail or other piece of iron in a burner flame. 9ompare this to sprinkling iron filings above the flame. The smaller the particles, the greater their surface and the greater the surface area, the greater the number of collisions &ill occur bet&een the reacting particles: surfaces. (s an e$tension, you may &ish to demo tincture of iodine to test for starch in bread, crackers, an aspirin tablet... %f a cracker or bread is &ell che&ed and mi$ed &ith saliva, it should no longer test positive for starch, since saliva &ill have begun changing the starch into sugar, but % haven:t tried that yet. Sources: @ournal of 9hemical >ducation Tested 6emonstrations, p. 1A 9hemistry, (n %nvestigative (pproach, p. B1" 9hemistry, (n %nvestigative (pproach, Teacher:s Cuide, p. )" , 1AD* Questions Ans er !ey 1. The control in an e$periment is the e$perimental setup &ithout any variables. %t is the 7standard8 against &hich the results &ith the variables are compared. ". 9ollision theory states that, in order to react, particles must collide &ith a certain minimum energy and orientation. (nything that changes these collisions can change the rate of the reaction. (Imagine that the collision knocks the old bond, loosening them and allowing the new bonds to start to form.) *. The greater the temperature ,on the +elvin scale-, the faster the particles are moving and the greater their kinetic energy. ,+> E F mv "). 2eating increased the reaction rate. Ghen the temperature &as increased, the particles moved faster. They collided more often and &ith more energy. . 9ooling the temperature decreased the reaction rate. Ghen the temperature &as decreased, the particles moved slo&er. They collided less often and &ith less energy.

Teacher Notes B. 6ilution decreased the reaction rate. Ghen the concentration of the reactants: particles decreased, there &ere fe&er collisions. (Ask how increasing the concentration would affect the reaction rate.) D. ( catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction &ithout being used up. (Relate this to enzymes, biological catalysts in the body. Catalysts increase the reaction rate by making collisions more effective. It is as if the catalyst holds one reactant so the other can collide with it more effectively.) <. 9opper ,%%- sulfate ,9uSO)- &as the catalyst. A. Huestion A is my favorite. ?sually the students &ill suggest that &e vary the conditions of solution 0 instead of solution (, concentrate the solutions to see if the reaction rate is increased, heat ( and cool 0, etc. The best ans&er %:ve ever gotten &as a student &ho said she &anted to see if InSO ) cataly.ed the reaction. Since .inc and copper are both "J ions, .inc might also &ork, she stated. %f you have the time, the students could test some of their hypotheses.