Integrated Chemical Rate Laws

by Teresa Mai

Submitted : Fall 2019

Chemical rate laws are a set of kinetic equations used to determine many different factors in a chemical reaction equation. The original rate law equations consist of variables representing reaction rate, reaction constant, and the reaction order. These equations are then integrated with respect to time which creates an equation containing variables for initial molar concentration, molar concentration at any given time, and time for the reaction to occur. For the purpose of this study, the original rate law equation was integrated, then it was used to find the missing variable of time. This was done through the chemical reaction of sodium thiosulfate with hydrochloric acid. Sodium thiosulfate’s concentration was diluted in the experiment in 5 beakers with varying amounts of water. The reaction rates were then analyzed to determine the missing variables needed to solve for time of a certain reaction to occur. The correct reaction order was verified using linear graphs. Based on the experiment, by only measuring the reaction rate and molar concentration of the reactants, one was able to accurately find the time it could take for a certain percentage of sodium thiosulfate to react with hydrochloric acid.

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