Objective:

To study the factors affecting rates of reaction.

Apparatus:

1. Stopwatch.
2. Hot water bath.
3. Test tube.
4. 10cm3 measuring cylinder.
5. Dropper.
6. 50cm3 beaker.
7. Conical flask.

Chemicals:

1. 0.1M hydrogen peroxide, H2O2.

2. 0.1M potassium iodide, KI.
3. 2M sulphuric acid, H2SO4.
4. 0.01M potassium permanganate, KMnO4.
5. 0.5M oxalic acid, H2C2O4.
6. O.1M manganese sulphate, MnSO4.
7. 0.005M sodium thiosulphate, Na2S2O3.
8. Starch solution.

Procedure:

A. Effect of concentration.
1. 10ml of KI and H2SO4 was placed into conical flask and 10ml of Na2S2O3 was
added into the flask, followed by addition of 3 drops of starch solution.
2. 10ml of H2O2 was quickly added into the flask and the mixture was shake and the
stopwatch was immediately start until the blue-black colour was appeared. The
time taken for colour of the mixture to change was recorded.
3. Step 1 and 2 was repeated by diluting with 2ml, 4ml, 6ml, and 8ml of water while
reducing the volume of KI.
 B. Effect of temperature.
1. 3ml of KMnO4 and H2SO4 was placed into a test tube.
2. 3ml of oxalic acid was measure and was placed into at the first of test tube. The
stopwatch was immediately started and the mixture was shake until the dark
purple colour of KMnO4 disappear. The time taken for colour to disappear was
recorded.
3. Step 1 and 2 was repeated with different of temperature of the mixture at 40˚C,
50˚C and 60˚C by immersing the test tube into the hot water bath.

C. Effect of presence of catalyst.

1. Steps 1 and 2 in B was repeated in this experiment with addition of three drops
MnSO4 at the first test tube.

Discussion:

Based on there are three factors that affecting rates of reaction which is concentration,
temperature and catalyst. From this experiment, the effect of concentration on the rate of
reaction had been carried out by using the reaction between hydrogen peroxide, H2O and
potassium iodide, KI. Increasing the concentration of reactants generally increases the rate of
reaction because more of the reacting molecules or ions are present to form the reaction
products. This is especially true when concentrations are already high, a limit is often reached
where increasing the concentration has little effect on the rate of reaction. When several
reactants are involved, increasing the concentration of one of them may not affect the rate of
reaction if not enough of the other reactants is available.

Next for effect of temperature and catalyst on the rate of reaction, the experiment had been
carried out using the reaction between oxalic acid H2C2O4 with acidified potassium
permanganate KMn04 . Manganese sulphate, MnSO4 had been used as a catalyst. A catalyst
is a substance which speeds up a reaction, but it chemically unchanged at the end of the
reaction. When the reaction has finished it will have exactly the same mass of catalyst as it
had at the beginning. Catalyst increase the rate of reaction without being used up. It is
because it lowering the activation energy needed. With a catalyst more collisions result in a
reaction, so the rate of reaction increases. Different reactions need different catalysts. Other
than that, increasing the collision frequency. Particles can only react when they collide.
If a substance was heat the particles on the substance move faster and so collide more
frequently .That will speed up the rate of reaction. The rate of reaction also depends on the
type of molecules that are combining. If there are low concentrations of an essential element
or compound, the reaction will be slower.

Conclusion:

From this experiment the rate of reaction had been determined by using 3 different factor
which is concentration, temperature and catalyst.
Questions:

1. Define activation energy. What role does activation energy play in chemical kinetics?
The activation energy is the energy required to form this intermediate, called activated
complex (C). The reaction of molecule reactant occur when it collide with each other
to form an unstable intermediate. The intermediate exists for a very short time and
breaks up to form product of molecules.

2. Write the Arrhenius equation and define all terms.

The Arrhenius equation k= Ae-Ea/RT where k is the rate of chemical reaction, A is
constant depending on the chemicals involved, Ea is the activation energy, R is the
universal gas constant, T is the temperature.

3. Use the Arrhenius equation to show why the rate constant of reaction:
(a) Decreases with increasing activation energy.
k = Ae-Ea/RT
In k = In Ae-Ea/RT
In k = In A – Ea/RT
As the activation energy increase the second term in right hand side become more
negative, so rate constant of reaction decreases.

(b) Increases with increasing temperature.

In k = In A (– Ea/RT)(1/T)
The temperature dependence of rates of reaction. As the temperature increases, the
rate constant of reaction increases
4. Variation of the rate constant with temperature for the first-order reaction is given in
the following table. Determine graphically the activation energy for the reaction.

T(K) K(s-1)
298 1.75×10-5
308 6.61×10-5
318 2.51×10-4
328 7.59×10-4
 338 2.40×10-3

0
Ink

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
1/T(1/K)

The activation energy can calculated from slope = -Ea/R. the value of the slope is -8e-5:

-8e-5 = -Ea/ 8.314

Ea= 6.65e-4 J/mol.

References:

1) Laidler, K.L ( n.d.). Reaction rate. Retrieved (October 30, 2018) from https : // www.
britannica.com / science / reaction- rate.
2) Rader’s Chem4kids.Com ( n.d). Rate of reaction. Retrieved (October 30, 2018) https :
// www.chem4kids.com/files/react_rates.html