C. Grefaldia / Chemistry 26.

1 (2017) P a g e |1

Chemical Kinetics: The Iodine Clock Reaction

C. Grefaldia1, C. Hernia2, N. Ebarvia1, M. Aguisanda2
1 College of Home Economics, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101

National Institute of Geological Sciences, College of Science, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101
2

Performed June 2016; Submitted 12 June 2016

ABSTRACT

THE EXPERIMENT WAS CONDUCTED TO DESCRIBE THE KINETICS OF THE REACTION OF I- AND S2O82- BY USING
DIFFERENT CONENTRATIONS OD THE REACTANTS WITH A CONSTANT CONCENTRATION OF S 2O82-, USE THE INITIAL
RATE METHOD TO DETERMINE THE RATE LAW OF THE REACTION, OBSERVE THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE
REACTION RATE BY HEATING THE REACTANTS AND COOLING AND TIME THE REACTION RATE OR THE TIME IN WHICH
THE SOLUTION HAS CHANGED COLOUR, SPECIFICALLY A BLUE-BLACK COLOUR. A STARCH WAS USED AS AN INDICATOR
OF THE END POINT OF THE REACTION AS IT FORMED A BLUE-BLACK COMPLEX IODINE-STARCH COMPLEX. THE
DIFFERENT RUNS WAS TIMED FOR AND THE TIME WAS USED TO CALCULATE THE REACTION RATE, DETERMINE THE
RATE OF THE REACTION AND THE RATE CONSTANT.

Introduction (Cambria 10, Bold)

The rate of a chemical reaction is defined as the change in

concentrations of a reactant or product over a period of
time. Factors that affect the rate of reaction are the
concentration, temperature and the presence of catalyst.
[1]

The iodine clock reaction is a reaction that involves

colourless to blue colour change and is often used to
determine the rate at which a reaction takes place. It
focuses on the rates of different runs of the Iodine, I - and
persulfate S2O82-, reaction mixture.
The experiment aims to describe the kinetics of the
reaction between iodide ions and persulfate ions and also
to determine the rate, rate constant, rate law
experimentally. The rate law describes the relationship
between the rate of the reaction and the concentrations of
reactants and it is raised to different powers according the
their rate order. The rate constant (k) is a proportionality
constant in the relationship between rate and
concentrations [2]
Figure 2; Reaction between S2O82 and I- to form I2
As figure 1 shows, the concentration of persulfate (blue
line) decreases over time whereas the concentration on
iodine increases. In order to determine the rate of reaction,
a measure of how fast either products are formed or
reactants are consumed is needed therefore, the amount of
Iodine formed is needed to be measured as the chemical
reaction on figure 2 shows. The reaction runs in the
presence of a known amount of thiosulfate which then
reacts rapidly with Iodine. Iodine reacts with thiosulfate as
long as it still present in the reaction. This reaction
competes with the reaction between iodine and starch and
as soon as thiosulfate is used up, iodine reacts with starch
to form a blue black complex.

Figure 3: Reaction between Iodine and thiosulfate

There were 5 different runs in the experiment. Each run

Figure 1: Concentration vs. time graph of I2 and S2O82-
consisted of a mixture of beaker A which contained 0.2 M
KI and 0.2 M KCl in varying volume per run and beaker B
containing 3 drops of starch and varying volumes of 0.1 M
K2S2O8, 0.1 M K2SO4 and 4mM Na2S2O3. To determine the
relationship between the rate and concentration of the
 C. Grefaldia / Chemistry 26.1 (2017) P a g e |2

reactants, a rate law is used: Rate = k[A]m[B]n, where k is Results and Discussion (Cambria 10, Bold)
the rate constant, [A] and [B] are the concentrations of the
reactants, and m and n pertain to the order of the reaction Table 1. Effect of Reactant Concentration on Reaction
with respect to concentration of A and B respectively. Thus Rate
the rate law between the reaction of iodine and thiosulfate Runs [S2O8 ] [I ]
2- - [S2O32-] Time, s Rate, M/s
in figure 2 shows that the rate is directly proportional to 1 0.02 0.08 8x10-4 174.8 2.29x10-6
the concentrations of iodide ion and persulfate. 2 0.02 0.04 8x10-4 308 1.30x10-6
3 0.02 0.02 8x10 -4 745 5.37x10-7
The Arrhenius equation describes the effect of 4 0.03 0.04 8x10 -4 117.91 3.40x10-6
temperature on the reaction rate: 5 0.04 0.04 8x10 -4 34.7 1.15x10-5

The result has shown that higher concentrations of

reactants: S2O82- and I- are favoured.

The iodine formed is immediately reacted with thiosulfate

to reduce ion back to iodide. The reaction goes on until all
Where A is the Arrhenius constant , Ea is the activation
the thiosulfate has reacted and Iodine can now react with
energy, T is temperature in Kelvin and R is the universal
starch to form a blue-black complex.
gas constant = 8.314 J/mol-K. The Arrhenius constant is
derived to an equation of a line and can construct an
The rate of the reaction is determined by the equation:
arrhenium plot of In k vs (1/T) by mapping the four data
points onto the equation of a line then use the slope to [I2]
determine the value of Ea. [1] rate=
time
,

Methodology the change of iodide concentration over time. The stoic

ratio of thiosulfate and iodine in figure 3 is 2:1 therefore
At the start of the experiment, the first to do was to
the change in concentration of iodide is half the
prepare the solutions to be used in the experiment: 500 mL
concentration.
of 0.2 M KI, 0.2 M KCl, 0.1 M K2S2O8, 0.1 M K2SO4 and 4mM
Na2S2O. The mass used for the solids were calculated using
Now, by looking at the data result, we can form a rate law
the moles (Molarity x Volume) multiplied by the molar
for the reaction between persulfate and iodide
weight of the compound.
Rate= k [S2O82-]m[I-]n
Starch was prepared using 0.20 g of soluble starch and
mixed with boiled water to get 20.0 mL of solution.
M and N refers to the order of the reaction with respect to
concentration of persulfate and iodide, respectively. The
10 beakers were prepared containing the prepared
orders can be identify by picking two sets of data and
solutions in varying volumes, 5 beakers labeled as beaker
comparing them to get a ratio of the rates and the
A contained 0.2 M KI and 0.2 M KCl whereas beaker B
concentrations. Therefore, the order is both 1 with respect
contained 3 drops of starch and 0.1 M K2S2O8, 0.1 M K2SO4
to both reactants so the overall order is 2. [4]
and 4mM Na2S2O. The two were mixed together at room
temperature and timed until the solution has turned to
Rate = k [S2O82-] [I-]
blue.

The rate law shows that the rate is directly proportional to

Another set of beaker were prepared containing the same
the concentrations of the reactants. Doubling the reactants
reactants, only this time the temperature acted as an
also doubles the rate of reaction. By using the rate law,
independent variable. One beaker A and B were heated
substituting the values of the concentrations, rates and the
between 40 60 degree Celsius using a hot plate before
exponents will give the rate constant value. [3]
mixing together and timed and another beaker a and B
were prepared and cooled in an ice bath until it reached 0-
10 degrees Celsius before it was mixed and timed.
 C. Grefaldia / Chemistry 26.1 (2017) P a g e |3

Table 2. Effect of Temperature and Catalyst on Reaction the humans response time might differ in stopping the
Rate stop watch once solutions have turned blue. This could be
Run 2 Temp, K Time, s Rate, M/s k, M-1sec-1 remedied by doing more trials to make the data and the
Set 1 301 308.6 1.31x10-6 1.63x10-3 result more reliable to use.
Set 2 332 5.3 7.55x10-5 9.43x10-2
References (Cambria 10, Bold)
Set 3 279 2,233 1.79x10-7 2.24x10-4
Set 4 297 123 3.25x10-6 4.06x10-3 [1] Pauling, L. 1970 General Chemistry. US: Dover
Publications.
[2] Ebbing, D., Gammon, S., 2009, General Chemistry,
One factor affecting the rate is the temperature as shown Cengage Learning
in the equation below. As the activation of energy E a, gets [3] A2-Level Chemistry Exam Board: Edexcel Complete
bigger, k gets smaller. So a large activation energy will Revision and Practice 2009. CGP
mean a slow rate. The equation also shows that as the [4] Rate Laws from Graphs of Concentration Versus Time
(Integrated Rate Laws) nd, Integrated Rate Laws.
temperature rises, k increases. [5]
Retrieved June 19 2017. From
Ea
http://www.chem.purdue.edu/gchelp/howtosolveit/Kinet
k = Ae RT ics/IntegratedRateLaws.html
Ea [5] Clark Jim 2002 Retrieved June 19, 2017
ln k = + ln A
RT http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/basicrates/arrheni
us.html
Referring to Table 2, Set 1 was done at room temperature,
set 2 was heated using a hot plate and set 3 was cooled
using ice bath. Larger k or temperature means larger rate
of reaction. This can be explained by the collision theory
where particles get more excited at high temperature,
colliding more often and also more particles have a more
sufficient energy to collide and this causes a faster rate of
reaction.

Figure 4 below shows that the plot of ln (1/T) and (1/T) is

inversely proportional and so the rate of reaction is
inversely proportional to the time taken for the solution to
change colour.

ln
(1/T)

1/T
Figure 4. Effect of temperature on reaction rate by the
Arrhenius equation.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The concepts of chemical kinetics were well-shown during

the experiment. The rates of reactions favor a lower
concentration of both the reactants, a higher temperature
and an addition of a catalyst. The rate law is in second
order, overall, being first order to both reactants.

Errors and uncertainties of the equipment used canot be

avoided, so the concentrations might have been higher or
lower than its true value. Stopwatches can also have
errors. Human error, as well is unavoidable, for example,
C. Grefaldia / Chemistry 26.1 (2017) P a g e |4