Microscale Chemistry: Rates of Reaction Using Sodium Thiosulphate and Acid

Microscale
Chemistry
Rates of reaction using

sodium thiosulphate
and acid
Introduction
Many chemical reactions proceed so fast that it is very difficult to measure them. There are, fortunately, a
number of slower reactions that can easily be followed in school science laboratories. The reaction
between sodium thiosulphate and acid is one such reaction and is mentioned in almost all textbooks.
However, the reaction produces a toxic product, sulphur dioxide, which has caused many schools to stop
doing it. In this reduced-scale method, very good results are obtained using only one fifth of the volumes
used in traditional methods. The production of sulphur dioxide is reduced by using a ‘stop bath’.
Interestingly, although extensively studied in schools, not a lot is known about this reaction!
Health & Safety
Wear eye protection.
Work in a well-ventilated area and, as far as possible, avoid breathing in any fumes
You will need
1 x glass vial 1 prepared plastic container

1M hydrochloric acid (or 0.5M sulphuric 0.1M sodium thiosulphate
acid)
Thermometer / temperature probe 250 cm3 beaker containing 50 cm3 of 0.5M
sodium carbonate solution with universal
indicator in (stop bath)
10 cm3 measuring cylinder 1 cm3 Pasteur pipette
Preparation
Take the lid of the food container and make two holes in it, one at least should be large enough for the
glass vial to fit through. You might be lucky enough to have a cork borer large enough otherwise you can
draw a circle of the right diameter and cut it with a craft knife or scalpel.
Use a permanent marker to draw a cross on the bottom of the container below one of the holes.
To Do
Make sure you have your sodium carbonate stop bath to hand. Once the colour changes, the
carbonate has been used up and you will need to replenish it..
Investigation 1 – Variation of rate with concentration
1. Place about 10 cm3 of 1M hydrochloric acid (or 0.5M sulphuric(VI) acid) in the ‘acid’ vial.
2. Place this vial into the correct hole in the plastic container (i.e. the one without the cross).
3. Measure 5 cm3 of 0.1M sodium thiosulphate solution into a 10 cm3 measuring cylinder.
4. Add 5 cm3 of water. Pour the solution into a second vial.
5. Insert this vial into the correct hole in the plastic container (i.e. the one with the cross).
6. With a stopwatch in one hand, use a plastic pipette to add 1 cm3 of the acid to the thiosulphate
solution. Immediately start timing.
7. Look down through the vial from above and record the time for the cross to disappear from view.
8. Pour the cloudy contents of the vial into the sodium carbonate solution (the ‘stop bath’).
9. Repeat the procedure using a different volume of sodium thiosulphate solution – again with water
added to make a total of 10 cm3 of solution. (Use any value between 3 and 10 cm3 of sodium
thiosulphate solution).
Unless you actually want a quantitative value for the rate of reaction, you can simply plot the reciprocal
of the time taken (1/t) against temperature
Investigation 2 – Variation of rate with temperature
1. Place about 10 cm3 of 1M hydrochloric acid (or 0.5M sulphuric(VI) acid) in the ‘acid’ vial.
2. Place this vial into the correct hole in the plastic container (i.e. the one without the cross).
3. Measure 10 cm3 of 0.05M sodium thiosulphate solution (use a 10 cm3 measuring cylinder).
Pour the solution into a second vial.
Insert this vial into the correct hole in the plastic container (i.e. the one with the cross).
4. With a stopwatch in one hand, use a plastic pipette to add 1 cm3 of the acid to the thiosulphate
solution. Immediately start timing.
5. Look down through the vial from above and record the time for the cross to disappear from view.
6. Record the temperature of the reaction mixture.
7. Now pour the cloudy contents of the vial into the sodium carbonate solution (the ‘stop bath’).
8. Now add water from a very hot water tap (or kettle) to the plastic container.
The water should be no hotter than 60 °C.
9. Measure 10 cm3 of 0.05M sodium thiosulphate solution into a clean vial.
Insert this vial into the correct hole in the plastic container (i.e. the one with the cross)*.
10. Leave the vial to warm up for 3 minutes*.
11. Repeat steps 4 to 7 above.
12. Repeat to obtain results for at least 5 different temperatures*.
The plastic container can be adapted to hold several vials which can each be filled with 10 cm3
thiosulphate solution (as in step 3). As the temperature of the water in the plastic container cools, more
readings can be taken. To lower the temperature further, cold water can be added to the container.
What is happening?
The reaction between sodium thiosulphate and hydrochloric acid is generally written as
Na2S2O3 + 2HCl 2NaCl + SO2 + S + H2O
However, the reaction is not as simple as it seems…
In fact, the decomposition of sodium thiosulphate in the presence of hydrochloric acid is significantly
more complex.
The reaction is acid-catalysed, which means that the acid concentration is an important factor influencing
when the reaction equilibrium is achieved.
The reaction undergoes several intermediate steps, producing HSnO3 - , which in turn will continue to react
with further S2O3 2- to generate polymeric ions containing multiple sulphur atoms. When the sulphur chain
is long enough – at S8 – it closes on itself to form a ring of elemental sulphur, which then precipitates.
Step 1: Na2S2O3 2Na+ + S2O3 2-
Step 2: HCl H+ + Cl -
Step 3: S2O3 2- + H+ HS2O3-
Step 4: H-S-SO3- + nS2O32- H-S-(S)n-SO3- + nSO3 2-
Step 5: H-S-Sn-SO3- H+ + S--Sn-SO3-
Step 6: S--S7-SO3- S8 + SO3 2-

Microscale Chemistry: Rates of Reaction Using Sodium Thiosulphate and Acid

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Microscale Chemistry: Rates of Reaction Using Sodium Thiosulphate and Acid

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Microscale Chemistry: Rates of Reaction Using Sodium Thiosulphate and Acid

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Microscale

Rates of reaction using

Health & Safety

Wear eye protection.

You will need

1 x glass vial 1 prepared plastic container

Investigation 1 – Variation of rate with concentration

4. Add 5 cm3 of water. Pour the solution into a second vial.

Investigation 2 – Variation of rate with temperature

6. Record the temperature of the reaction mixture.

10. Leave the vial to warm up for 3 minutes*.

11. Repeat steps 4 to 7 above.

12. Repeat to obtain results for at least 5 different temperatures*.

Na2S2O3 + 2HCl 2NaCl + SO2 + S + H2O

However, the reaction is not as simple as it seems…

Step 1: Na2S2O3 2Na+ + S2O3 2-

Step 3: S2O3 2- + H+ HS2O3-

Step 4: H-S-SO3- + nS2O32- H-S-(S)n-SO3- + nSO3 2-

Step 5: H-S-Sn-SO3- H+ + S--Sn-SO3-

Step 6: S--S7-SO3- S8 + SO3 2-

You might also like