Measuring the time of iodine reacting

Mick Shipman, Cyrus Van Zante, Matthew J. Ruppel

High Tech High North County, San Marcos, CA 92078
Abstract:
{We will do this part together after you have written your first draft report}
Introduction
Chemical reactions are important to our everyday lives and are important to understanding many
things. While looking at chemical reactions the collision theory always comes up. Collision
theory is when two molecules/atoms collide with the correct orientation and enough force to
create a reaction, please note that they will not react every time. On a large scale you can change
the rates of the reaction by adjusting concentration of the chemicals or the temperature. If you
increase the temperature of the reaction, it will complete faster than a reaction in a colder
environment. Also if you change the concentration of one of the chemicals in the reaction it will
give a more likely chance to react with other chemicals on a microscale. The hypothesis for the
experiment states that by changing the amount of the ascorbic acid will adjust the timings of the
reaction.
Experimental:
First a clean and safe environment is a must. With a partner the work is divided up. One of the
partners goes to one table and collects 25 drops of iodine and 10 drops of the ascorbic acid into a
100 ml container. The other partner would go to another table and get 60 drops of Hydrogen
Peroxide and 10 starch into a different 100 ml container. Next each 100 ml beaker adds 5 ml of
distilled water. Regrouping back at the clean and safe work area, one of the partners gets out a
timer, while to other preps the reaction beaker. When the partner with the timer is ready, the other
pours the two separate beakers into the one reaction beaker. After they are combined the timer
begins. As soon as the reaction begins, you will know it has begun when you see the change of
color in the water, the partner with the timer stops it and records the time. A table is to be created
to mark down the times of each experiment corresponding to the amounts of the chemicals.
Results and Discussion:
For the first experiment with the base amount of chemicals it took around 1:17 seconds to reach
a yellow urine like color, and by 2:54 seconds it has reached a near red color. The instructions
were misread by the group and more than one variable was changed at one time. From
experiment 2 to experiment 10 more than one variable was changed. This gave untraceable
answers and made it hard to pinpoint what was effecting the reaction speed. Another read
through of the instructions was done, and acid was decided to be the variable of change. Now
from experiment 11 to experiment 14 the only thing changing was the acid. By looking at the
graph below the acid (Vitamin C) directly impacted the time of the reaction. During the reaction

the acid is the one thing that is reacting to the iodine and when the acid runs out, the iodine has
nothing to react to. From there the iodine begin reacting with the starch creating the color change
we see. So in theory the more acid there is in the mix, the longer the reaction would take. In the
case of the experiments tested, this was not the answer. With 15 drops of Acid the time was very
close to the destinated 2 minute mark. Next lowering the acid to 12 actually brought up the time,
and bringing it up one more to 13 drops brought the time up even more.
Amount of drops for each chemical

Time it took to react

25 Iodine, 15 Ascorbic Acid, 60 Hydrogen

and 10 Starch

2:20 seconds

25 Iodine, 12 Ascorbic Acid, 60 Hydrogen

and 10 Starch

2:38 seconds

25 Iodine, 13 Ascorbic Acid, 60 Hydrogen

and 10 Starch

2:52 seconds

25 Iodine, 14 Ascorbic Acid, 60 Hydrogen

and 10 Starch

2:04 seconds

Conclusions:

In conclusion the different amounts of ascorbic acid changed the timing of the color change. The
more ascorbic acid, the longer it takes to react and begin the change of colors. As the hypothesis
states, the amount of ascorbic acid added or taken away will in fact change the reaction times. To
add on to this lab experimenting with other amounts of the different chemicals like the iodine,
starch or hydrogen peroxide.

References:
Lecture notes