Gomberg, 1

Student Name: Sheli

Student Number: 8247444
Partners Name and Student #: Cater Sullivan, 8243882
Demonstrator's Name: Anis

PLEASE NOTE:
If ANY of the above information is UNCLEAR or not provided, your grade
will NOT be recorded!!
Lab Day (circle):
Lab Week (circle):

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Laboratory Report Cover Page

Experiment 3.
Chemical Kinetics
Checklist:
o Raw Data Sheet written in pen, signed by TA and attached
o 8 curves [2 for metal; 2 for acid 1; 2 for acid 2; 2 for salt] attached
o Completed formal report typed and attached
Students Initials: S.G

Gomberg, 2

Using Absorption Spectrophotometry to Measure the Rate of a Reaction

and the Partial Order of Chromium in a Complex

By Sheli Gomberg
8247444

CHM1311 Section 8

Demonstrator:
Anis

November 10th, 2015

Department of Chemistry

University of Ottawa

Gomberg, 3
Introduction
Chemical reactions vary greatly in terms of their rates. Some reactions may occur instantly whereas other
take more time for the products to form. Chemical kinetics studies the various factors that control the rate
of reactions as well as the mechanisms by which the reactions occur. This experiment examined the
dependence of the rate of a reaction on the concentration of the reactants. This relationship is referred to
as the order of a reaction.
The rate of a reaction is equal to the rate constant, multiplied by the concentrations of each of the reactant
species, each raised to the appropriate powers. This is demonstrated using the following equation:

Rate=k [ A]n
Where k refers to the rate constant, [A], [B] and [C] refer to the concentration of the reactant species and
the exponents n, m and p refer to the partial orders of each of the reactants.
This experiment involves the reaction between three of the following chemical compounds, the chromium
(III) ion, EDTA, and the hydrogen ion. These reactants form a complex between chromium (III0 and
EDTA. Complexes are very stable in water and have a very distinct color. As the reaction proceeds the
colour gets darker with time given that more product is formed. The rate of this specific reaction can be
measured by substituting the concentrations of the reactants into the rate equation and obtaining the
following expression:

EDTA

Rate=k [ Cr ( III )]n

In order to follow this reaction, two variables must be held constant while only altering one of the
variables. This method allows for the determination of the chemical compound that had the most
significant effect on the rate of the reaction. The EDTA is a buffered solution which means that the pH
remains constant. pH is the measurement of the hydrogen ion concertation, therefore, by keeping the pH
constant, the hydrogen ion concertation is kept constant. Since EDTA is much more abundant in the
reaction, the chromium (III) ion is consumed first. Due to the abundance of EDTA, the loss of if EDTA
when it reacted with the chromium (III) in is negligible. This means that the concentration of EDTA
remained constant throughout the reaction. Thus by keeping the concentration of the hydrogen ion and
EDTA constant, the rate of the reaction can be expressed in terms of the chromium (II) according to the
expression:

Rate=k ' [Cr( III )]m

Where k represents the concentration of EDTA and hydrogen ions which remain constant.

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EDTA

k ' =
In order to find the partial order of the chromium (III) ion, the logarithm of the rate must be plotted the
logarithm of the concentration of the chromium ion. This plot should theoretically yields a straight line.
The slope of the straight line represents the partial order of the chromium (III) ion. This can be explained
using the following expressions:
'

log rate=log k + mlog [ Cr ( III ) ]

y=b +mx

The rate of the reaction is measured by simply taking the negative derivative of the absorbance using the
equation:

A Cr (III )
d
Rate=

dx
This experiment, however, does not measure the concentration, it measures the transmittance using a
spectrophotometer. Transmittance measures how much light passes through a sample using the following
formula:

T=

I
Io

Where I represents the intensity of light after it passes though the medium that is being studied (I), in this
case the chromium (III)-EDTA complex and Io represents the light before it passes though the medium.
Absorbance and transmittance are inversely proportional to one another. They can be related as follows

A=log T
Absorbance is directly related to concentration. This can be demonstrated using the Beer-Lambert law:

A=bc
Where represents the molar absorptivity, b represents the path length and c represents the concentration.
Evidently absorbance is a measure of concentration as it is directly proportional to it.

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At the end of the experiment, the solution was heated to 100 degrees Celsius in order to push the reaction
to completion and ensure that all of the chromium (II) has reacted to form the coloured complex. This
reading provided the value of the absorbance at infinite time. The absorbance at infinite time represents
the absence of the chromium (III) ion as it has all been reacted and converted to the chromium (III)EDTA complex. The value for the infinite time can be used to determine the amount of chromium (III) ion
that remained unreacted at any given time using the following equation:

A Cr(III )= A A t
By integrating the concepts of rate, concentration, transmittance and absorption, the partial order of th
chromium (III) ion can be determined.

Procedure

As described in the laboratory manual (What in the World ISNT Chemistry, Dr. Rashmi
Venkateswaran, 2015, Exp. 2, p. 43).

Observations/Data/Results:
Table 1: Measurements of the reactants used to determine the wavelength of the Chromium (III)-EDTA
complex and the absorbance at each individual trial
DATA
Using EDTA at pH 4.5
Molarity of EDTA
0.1M
Molarity of Cr(III)
0.1M
Wavelength (nm) at
539.60nm
minimum
transmittance
DATA
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
pH value of EDTA
4.0
4.5
5.0
Volume of EDTA
10Ml
10mL
10mL
Drops of Cr(III)
2
2
2

Table 2: The First trial measuring the absorbance as a function of time of a complex created using pH 4.0
EDTA as well as the calculations done using Logger Pro 3 to determine the rate and partial orders of the
reaction

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Table 3: The second trial measuring the absorbance as a function of time of a complex created using pH
4.5 EDTA as well as the calculations done using Logger Pro 3 to determine the rate and partial orders of
the reaction

Gomberg, 7
Table 4: The third trial measuring the absorbance as a function of time of a complex created using pH 5.0
EDTA as well as the calculations done using Logger Pro 3 to determine the rate and partial orders of the
reaction

Figure 1: Graphical representation of the three trials displaying the absorbance of the Chromium (III)
complex as a function of time

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Figure 2: Graphical representation of the three trials displaying the natural logarithm of absorbance of the
Chromium (III) complex as a function of time which can be used to determine the order of each reaction

Figure 3: Graphical representation of trial 1 displaying the natural logarithm of rate as a function the
natural logarithm of absorbance of the Chromium (III) complex which can be used to determine the
partial order of Chromium (III).

Gomberg, 9

Figure 4: Graphical representation of trial 2 displaying the natural logarithm of rate as a function the
natural logarithm of absorbance of the Chromium (III) complex which can be used to determine the
partial order of Chromium (III).

Figure 5: Graphical representation of trial 3 displaying the natural logarithm of rate as a function the
natural logarithm of absorbance of the Chromium (III) complex which can be used to determine the
partial order of Chromium (III).

Gomberg, 10

Calculations
1. Trial 1:A=1.883
Trial 2: A=1.697
Trial 3: A=1.716
2.

A Cr(III )= A A t
Determined in the third column of every trial (Name of column: A Cr (III))

3. Partial order of Cr(III)

Trial 1: 28.62 (invalid)
Trial 2: 20.37 (invalid)
Trial 3: 1.002 (valid)
Therefore, the partial order of the chromium (III) ion is one.
Discussion
Using absorption spectrophotometry, this experiment measured the partial order of the chromium ion
which was found to be one.
It is apparent based on the partial orders of chromium (III) that were obtained in the trials one and two of
the experiment, which significantly deviated from the theoretical partial order, that there were several
significant experimental errors in this experiment. The first and most significant experimental error that
contributed to the inaccurate results is was the fact that the not enough time was given for the reaction to
occur. If not enough data is obtained for the absorbance, the slope of the graph only represents the initial
rate of the reaction. The initial rate yields a much steeper slope than the overall rate. This explains why
the data in trials one and two generated a very steep slope. Another error that occurred what that at a
certain point in the experiment, the sample was taken out of the spectrophotometer causing the
absorbance to significantly increase. This data point was omitted, resulting in an even smaller data set that
is not representative of the partial order. The experimental error that contributed to the negative slope in
trial two was improper calibration. Trial two was conducted using a different spectrophotometer and not
enough time was allowed for the spectrophotometer to calibrate. This resulted in an improper baseline for
the rest of the absorbance values in the trial. The improper base wavelength generated negative
absorbance values which produced a negative slope when the log of absorbance was graphed against the
log of rate. Lastly, the long narrow shape of the test tube in which the reaction occurred contributed to the
inaccuracy of the data. Given this shape, the reactants cannot react immediately resulting in the plateaus
that are evidenced in the graph for trial 3.
Given that the reaction between the chromium (III) ion and EDTA takes approximately 6 hours, the
absorbance that was measured in the lab had to be manipulated. During the experiment, the reaction was
forced to completion by heating the complex which increased the reaction rate. Additionally, once the
data was obtained, the certain points had to be omitted because they first data point represents the
absorbance when there was nothing in the spectrophotometer and the last (or last few) data points
(depending on when the recording of absorbance was stopped) represent infinite time (A ).
The temperature and volume measurements are very important in the experiment because the both have a
significant effect on the rate. By increasing the temperature of the reactants, the rate of the reaction
increases because particles move faster and therefore, collide more frequently. In this experiment, the

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reaction normally takes six hours to go to completion, however, given that the temperature was brought to
100 degrees Celsius, the rate of the reaction increased allowing the reaction to go to completion in the
given time frame. The effect of volume on the rate of the reaction is that as volume increases (pressure
decreases), the rate of the reaction deceases because collisions occur less frequently in a larger space. In
this experiment, the volume that was given for the reaction to occur was relatively small (test tube) which
increased the reaction rate.
Theoretically, the expected data for this experiment should be reproducible if the experiment if done
exactly according to the procedure and all of the conditions for the reaction to occur smoothly are met.
However, the data that was obtained in this specific experiment is quite flawed, therefore, in cannot be
reproduced unless the exact same experimental errors are made.
The relationship between absorbance and rate can be used to find the partial order of each of the reactants.
Given that when absorbance is plotted against rate, the graph is exponential, not linear, the logarithm of
the absorbance and rate must be taken in order to obtain a linear graph. The slope of the line represents
the partial order of a reactant, in this case chromium (III). Theoretically, the partial order of chromium
(III) in this reaction is supposed to be one, however, this was only obtained in the experiment in trial
three. Trials one and two had partial orders that significantly deviated from the correct partial order due to
experimental error.
When doing the calculations for the experiment, certain data points had to be omitted. The first data point
had to be omitted because at time = 0 there was nothing in the spectrophotometer since the drops of
chromium (III) ion were just being added to the EDTA. The other data that must be omitted is the data
that was obtained after the reaction had already occurs. This data represents the concentration of
chromium ion at infinite time which technically can never be zero.

The partial order with respect to hydrogen can be predicted to be zero. This is because the overall order of
the reaction is one. The overall order can be determined by looking at the relationship between the log of
absorbance and time. Given that the relationship is linear, the overall order of the reaction is one. The
overall order of a reaction is determined by adding all of the partial orders. The partial order of the
chromium (III) ion is one and since the overall order is one, the partial order of the hydrogen ion must be
zero (1-1=0). Another piece of evidence that proves that the partial order of the hydrogen ion is zero is
that the concentration of hydrogen ions remains constant. A constant concentration would yield a straight
line when plotting the log of absorbance against time. A straight line indicates a partial pressure of zero.

Conclusion
Based on the data obtained in the first trial of the experiment, the partial order of the chromium (III) when
it reacts with EDTA is 28.62. Based on the data obtained in the second trial of the experiment, the partial
order of the chromium (III) when it reacts with EDTA is 20.37. Based on the data obtained in the third
trial of the experiment, the partial order of the chromium (III) when it reacts with EDTA is 1.002. Given
that the first two trials were subjected to extreme experimental error, the partial order of the chromium
(III) ion is one.

Gomberg, 12

References
Silberberg, M., Lavieri, S., & Venkateswaran, R. (2013). Thermochemistry: Energy Flow and
Chemical Change. In Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change (1st ed.). New
York: McGaw-Hill. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
What in the World ISNT Chemistry, Dr. Rashmi Venkateswaran, 2015, Exp. 2, p. 27. Retrieved
November 6, 2015.
Bertrand, G. (n.d.). Spectrophotometry. Retrieved November 6, 2015.

Gomberg, 13

Raw Data
Table 1: Three trials measuring the absorbance as a function of time of a complex created using pH 4.0
EDTA, pH 4.5 EDTA and pH 5.0 EDTA

Table 2: Measurements of the reactants used to determine the wavelength of the Chromium (III)-EDTA
complex and the absorbance at each individual trial

Gomberg, 14

Table 3: Measurements of percent transmittance as a function of wavelength (nm)

(it was not possible to fit all the data points, however, they are all represented graphically below)

Gomberg, 15

Figure 1: Graphical representation of the percent transmittance as a function of wavelength (nm),

displaying the wavelength at which minimal transmittance occurred (539.6nm)