Iodine Clock Reaction

Research question
How does the concentration of sodium bisulfite affect the rate of reaction between acidified potassium
iodate solution and sodium bisulfite solution?

Objective
To investigate the effect of the concentration of sodium bisulfite on its rate of reaction with acidified
potassium iodate solution, measured by the time it takes for the appearance of blue-black colour in the
reaction mixture.

Balanced chemical equation with state symbols

2IO3- (aq)+ 5HSO3-(aq) → I2(s) + H2O(l) + 3H+(aq) + 5SO42-(aq)

Materials (with uncertainty)

1. Potassium iodate solution (solution A)
2. Sodium bisulfite solution (solution B)
3. Starch solution (solution C)
4. Distilled water
5. 3ml Plastic graduated pipette (± 0.25 ml)
6. Stopwatch (±0.01s)
7. Reaction beaker
8. White paper

Volumes of solutions used in the experiment

Experiment Distilled water Solution A/ Solution C/ Solution
(±0.25ml) Potassium iodate Starch solution B/Sodium
solution (±0.25ml) bisulfate solution
(±0.25ml) (±0.25ml)

1 3 1.0 0.5 0.5

2 2.5 1.0 0.5 1

3 2 1.0 0.5 1.5

4 1.5 1.0 0.5 2

Procedures
1. Place the reaction beaker on white paper.
2. Use a plastic graduated pipette to add 3ml of distilled water to the reaction beaker.
3. Transfer 1ml of solution A and 0.5ml of solution C using separate pipettes.
4. Transfer 0.5ml of solution B to the reaction beaker using another pipette.
5. Swirl the mixture twice and start the stopwatch immediately after adding solution B.
6. Stop the stopwatch immediately after a blue-black colour appears. Record the exact time
taken for the colour change in the data table.
7. Dispose of the reaction mixture in the sink and rinse the beaker with tap water.
8. Repeat steps 3 to 9 three times.
9. Repeat steps 3 to 10 for experiments 2, 3, and 4 by altering the volume of distilled water and
solution B as shown in the table above.

Raw data table

Experiment Solution A Solution B Solution C Water Time Average
# (±0.25ml) (±0.25ml) (±0.25ml) (±0.25ml) (±0.01s) time for
colour to
change to
blue-black
(±0.01s)

1A 1.0 0.5 0.5 3.0 16.12 16.10

1B 1.0 0.5 0.5 3.0 16.41

1C 1.0 0.5 0.5 3.0 15.78

2A 1.0 1.0 0.5 2.5 11.65 11.84

2B 1.0 1.0 0.5 2.5 12.09

2C 1.0 1.0 0.5 2.5 11.77

3A 1.0 1.5 0.5 2.0 10.5 10.30

3B 1.0 1.5 0.5 2.0 9.92

3C 1.0 1.5 0.5 2.0 10.47

4A 1.0 2.0 0.5 1.5 8.23 8.48

4B 1.0 2.0 0.5 1.5 8.44

4C 1.0 2.0 0.5 1.5 8.76

Rate of reaction
3
−3 −1 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐼2(𝑚𝑜𝑙/𝑑𝑚 )
𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 𝑠 ) = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑟(𝑠)

0.0006 𝑔 / (22.99+1.01+32.07+16.00×3) −4 −3 −1
Experiment 1: 3 ÷ 16. 10 𝑠 = 1. 02 × 10 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 𝑠
3.5/1000 𝑑𝑚

0.0012 𝑔 / (22.99+1.01+32.07+16.00×3) −4 −3 −1
Experiment 2: 3 ÷ 11. 84 𝑠 = 2. 78 × 10 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 𝑠
3.5/1000 𝑑𝑚

0.0018 𝑔 / (22.99+1.01+32.07+16.00×3) −4 −3 −1
Experiment 3: 3 ÷ 10. 30 𝑠 = 4. 80 × 10 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 𝑠
3.5/1000 𝑑𝑚

−4 −3 −1
Experiment 4: 0.0024 𝑔 / (22.99+1.01+32.07+16.00×3)
3 ÷ 8. 48 𝑠 = 7. 77 × 10 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 𝑠
3.5/1000 𝑑𝑚

Uncertainties
Percentage Percentage Total percentage Absolute
uncertainty of uncertainty of uncertainty (%) uncertainty
time taken (%) sodium bisulfite (𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚
−3 −1
𝑠 )
concentration (%)

Experiment 1 0.01
× 100
0.5
× 100 0. 062 + 14. 3 14.362
100
× 1. 02 × 10
−4
16.10 3.5 = 14. 362 −5
= 0. 062 = 14. 3 = 1. 47 × 10

Experiment 2 0.01
× 100
0.5
× 100 0. 084 + 14. 3 14.384
100
× 2. 78 × 10
−4
11.84 3.5 = 14. 384 −5
= 0. 084 = 14. 3 = 4. 00 × 10

Experiment 3 0.01
× 100
0.5
× 100 0. 097 + 14. 3 14.397
100
× 4. 80 × 10
−4
10.30 3.5 = 14. 397 −4
= 0. 097 = 14. 3 = 0. 69 × 10

Experiment 4 0.01
× 100
0.5
× 100 0. 120 + 14. 3 14.42
100
× 7. 77 × 10
−4
8.48 3.5 = 14. 420 −4
= 0. 120 = 14. 3 = 1. 12 × 10
Qualitative Data Observations
The colour of reaction mixture changes from colourless to blue-black when iodate ion reacts with
bisulfite ions to produce iodine. Iodine turns blue-black in the presence of starch.

Data Analysis

Figure 1: Time taken for the appearance of blue-black colour in different concentrations of sodium
bisulfite solution

Figure 1 presents the time taken for the starch solution to turn blue-black in different concentrations of
Sodium bisulfite. The trend line shows that the relationship between time and concentration of
Sodium bisulfite is proportional because it presents a straight line with about linear decrease each
time. As the concentration of Sodium bisulfite increases, the time taken for the colour change
decreases. The time taken for the reaction mixture to turn blue-black when the concentration was
−3 −3
1. 65 × 10 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 was 16.1 seconds, while it only took 8.48 seconds when the concentration
−3 −3
was 6. 59 × 10 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 .
Figure 2: Change in rate of reaction
The rate of reaction increased exponentially with an increase in the change in concentration of iodine.
−3 −3
As the change in concentration of iodine increased from 1. 65 × 10 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 to
−3 −3 −5 −3 −1
6. 59 × 10 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 , the rate of reaction increased from 1. 47 × 10 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 𝑠 to
−4 −3 −1
1. 12 × 10 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑚 𝑠 .

Conclusion
The results show that the rate of reaction between sodium bisulfite and potassium iodate increases as
the concentration of sodium bisulfite solution increases. Figure 1 shows that there is a negative
correlation between the time taken for the appearance of blue-black colour in the reaction mixture and
the concentration of sodium bsulfite solution. This is because as the concentration increased, there are
more reactant molecules per unit area, and the reactant molecules collide more often. The frequency
of effective collisions increase, leading to a higher reaction rate.

Evaluation
The experiment yielded reliable results because it could be repeated to give similar results. Also,
repeating the experiment three times and taking the average time for the reaction mixture to turn
blue-black decreased the random error caused by human reaction time. The graphs provide effective
visual representation of the correlation between concentration of sodium bisulfite solution, change in
concentration of iodine, and time.
However, human reaction time error could not be eliminated completely by repeating the experiment
and taking average. Also, the difficulty in observing the endpoint of the reaction could have caused
random error in measurement of time. These random errors could be improved by several people
measuring the time at the same time.
The accuracy of the results could be further improved by using more precise equipments, such as a
5ml graduated cylinder instead of a plastic graduated pipette. Plastic graduated pipettes have absolute
uncertainty of ±0.25ml , so when transferring 0.5ml of solutions into the beaker, the percentage
uncertainty was over 50%. Using equipments with more precise graduations will allow an accurate
measurement of volume.