Investigating the Kinetics of the reaction between Iodide ions and Peroxodisulphate (VI) ions
By the use of an Iodine clock reaction I hope to obtain the length of time taken for Iodine ions (in potassium iodide) to react fully with Peroxodisulphate ions (in potassium Peroxodisulphate). I will do three sets of experiments changing first the concentration of iodide ions, then the concentration of Peroxodisulphate ions and finally the temperature of the solution in which the reaction is taking place. From these results, I hope to draw conclusions as to the effects of these changes to the environment of the reaction on the rate and also determine the order of the reaction and the activation enthalpy.
Background information
The rate of a reaction is determined by a number of factors. These include: pressure, temperature, concentration of reactants, surface area of reactants, presence of a catalyst and radiation.
The effect of these factors can be explained using collision theory. Reactions occur when the reactant particles collide, provided the colliding particles have enough energy for the reaction to take place. As the molecules approach their electron clouds repel. This requires energy the minimum amount of which is called the activation enthalpy' - and comes from translational, vibrational, and rotational energy of each molecule. If there is enough energy available, this repulsion is overcome and the molecules get close enough for attractions between the molecules to cause a rearrangement of bonds and therefore an effective' reaction has taken place. The more collisions of particles with kinetic energy over the activation enthalpy that occur, the faster the overall reaction. During this investigation I am focusing on the effect of temperature and concentration while aiming to maintain other rate determining factors at a constant level in order to ensure reliable results.
Effect of concentration
Taking the collision theory into