The University of the South Pacific

School of Biological and Chemical Sciences

CH205 – Chemistry for Civil Engineers

Lab 6: Evaluating the order of the reaction and activation energy of the reaction
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Activation energy is referred to as the energy that must be provided to a compound in order
“

for a reaction to take place. For every reaction, there will be reaction order which is defined
as relationship between the concentrations of compounds and the rate of a reaction. The
reaction order is the exponent to which the concentration of that species is raised, it indicates
the extent of concentration of a compound which affects the rate of a reaction, as well the
compound which caused a larger impact in the reaction (Shahbaz, Iskandar, Lower and U,
2020).”

The rate law is given by: rate=k [ A] x [B] y. There are three orders: 0,1,2 and each of these
“

orders are obtained from the rate law equation. Another way to obtain the order of a reaction
is using graphical reaction, 3 graphs of time against concentration is drawn using each of the
three formulas from the rate law and if a linear graph is obtained from either of the graphs,
then the assumed order was accurate. Upon finding the reaction order, the Arrhenius equation
is used to obtain the activation energy. The lower the activation energy, the faster the reaction
takes place.”

This is relevant to engineering because its major application in aerodynamics. It is utilized in

“

computational fluid dynamics models which include chemical reactions to study aviation fuel
thermal and oxidative thermal stability (Ervin and Heneghan, 1998). ”

According to a previous experiment done in a similar manner, the hydrolysis of an ester

follows a one-way forward second order reaction and has an activation energy of 29.775 kJ
mol-1 (Çitak and Kivrak, 2018). The aim of this experiment is to determine the order of the
reaction and the activation energy and compare it with the values obtained from research.

2.0 PROCEDURE
A solution was prepared by pipetting 5cm3 of ester (ethyl acetate) into a conical flask that
contained 100cm3 of 0.24M H2SO4. As soon as the ester was added, the timer started and the
solution was shaken for 30 seconds. After 1 minute had elapsed, an aliquot of 5cm3 was run
into a conical flask with 20cm3 ice water which was there to arrest the reaction. The aliquot
was titrated against 0.1M NaOH with phenolphthalein indicator, (Vt). Withdraw further 5cm3
aliquots at 10-minute intervals for an hour with NaOH. Finally, withdraw a 5cm3 aliquot from
the reaction mixture that had been equilibrated for 2 days at room temperature and titrate in a
similar manner, (Vꝏ).
3.0 RESULTS
Table 1: Room Temperature (25°C), Vꝏ = 49.8mL
t (min) Titre (cm3) Vꝏ - Vt (mL) ln (Vꝏ - Vt) 1/ (Vꝏ - Vt)
10 27.5 22.3 3.10459 0.04484
20 27.9 21.9 3.08649 0.04566
30 29 20.8 3.03495 0.04808
40 30 19.8 2.98568 0.05051
50 31.7 18.1 2.89591 0.05525
60 33.7 16.1 2.77882 0.06211
 Graph 1: Time vs (Vꝏ - Vt)

Time (mins) vs (Vꝏ-Vt)

25
20
15
(Vꝏ-Vt) 10
5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Time (mins)

Figure 1: Time vs (Vꝏ - Vt)

Graph 2: Time vs ln (Vꝏ-Vt)

Time (mins) vs ln (Vꝏ-Vt)

3.2
3.1
3
ln (Vꝏ-VT)

2.9
2.8
2.7
2.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Time (mins

Figure 2: Time vs ln (Vꝏ - Vt)

Graph 3: Time vs 1/(Vꝏ-Vt)

Time (mins) vs 1/(Vꝏ-VT)

0.07
0.06
0.05 f(x) = 0.000335804119960755 x + 0.0393214463668261
1/(Vꝏ-VT)

0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Time (mins)

Figure 3: Time vs 1/ (Vꝏ - Vt)

Table 2: 40°C, Vꝏ = 42.9 mL
t (min) Titre (cm3) Vꝏ - Vt (mL) ln (Vꝏ - Vt) 1/ (Vꝏ - Vt)
10 29.5 13.4 2.59525 0.07463
20 29.3 13.6 2.61007 0.07353
30 29.9 13 2.56495 0.07692
40 37.2 5.7 1.74047 0.17544
50 38.2 4.7 1.54756 0.21277
60 39.4 3.5 1.25276 0.28571

Table 3: 60°C, Vꝏ = 54.8 mL

t (min) Titre (cm3) Vꝏ - Vt (mL) ln (Vꝏ - Vt) 1/ (Vꝏ - Vt)
10 18.4 36.4 3.59457 0.02747
20 37.3 17.5 2.8622 0.05714
30 42.4 12.4 2.5177 0.08065
40 46.9 7.9 2.06686 0.12658
50 48.2 6.6 1.88707 0.15152
60 52.2 2.6 0.95551 0.38462

Table 4: 80°C, Vꝏ = 54.8 mL

t (min) Titre (cm3) Vꝏ - Vt (mL) ln (Vꝏ - Vt) 1/ (Vꝏ - Vt)
10 40.2 14.6 2.68102 0.06849
20 42.55 12.25 2.50553 0.08163
30 44.25 10.55 2.35613 0.09479
40 44.85 9.95 2.29757 0.1005
50 45.6 9.2 2.2192 0.1087
60 46.2 8.6 2.15176 0.11628

Table 5: k values
Temperature (K) 1/T (k) ln (k)
25 0.00336 0.0003 -8.11173
40 0.00319 0.001 -6.90776
60 0.003 0.0006 -7.41858
80 0.00283 0.0026 -5.95224
Graph 4: 1/T vs ln (K)

1/T vs ln (K)
0
0.0028 0.0029 0.003 0.0031 0.0032 0.0033 0.0034
-1
-2
-3
-4
ln k

-5
-6
f(x) = − 3327.46664154048 x + 3.20630365183092
-7
-8
-9
1/T (K)

Figure 4: 1/T vs ln (k)

Activation energy, EA = 27.665 kJ mol-1

4.0 DISCUSSION
With reference to figure 4, a linear relationship can be observed between the inverse of
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temperature and the natural log of the rate constant. From this, the gradient of the straight line
was used to evaluate the activation energy of the reaction of hydrolysis of an ester. The
Arrhenius equation was used to obtain an activation energy of 27.665 kJ mol-1. This reaction
followed a one-way forward first order reaction and this result was approximately as same as
the literature value of 29.775 kJ mol-1. The reaction rate coefficient k has a temperature
”“

dependency, whereby as the temperature increases, the kinetic energy of the reactants
increases meaning they will move faster and more collisions at greater speeds will take place. ”

This made the reaction slightly exothermic in nature. The results from this experiment could
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have been better obtained if drawing and titrating of the ester solution was done accurately
and correctly, readings were taken accurately and allowing the solution to attain equilibrium
before analyzing the reaction. ”

5.0 CONCLUSION
The experimental results show the hydrolysis of ethyl acetate is the first order reaction. The
activation energy was calculated using the Arrhenius equation and the literature and
experimental values were within a certain range of each other. The value obtained through
experiment was 27.665 kJ mol-1. The results from this experiment prove true to some extent
“

considering the procedure followed was under standard conditions, and the results can be
used to compare the activation energy to similar experiments conducted. ”

6.0 REFRENCES
Çıtak, A. and Kıvrak, A., 2018. Determination of the Expression Rate of Ethyl Acetate
Hydrolysis Reaction Depending on the Temperature. Journal of the Institute of Science and
Technology, [online] 9(1), pp.382-388. Available at:
https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/651595#:~:text=The%20hydrolysis
%20reaction%20of%20ethyl,liquid)%20reaction%20and%20slightly%20exothermic.
[Accessed 22 October 2020].
Ervin, J. and Heneghan, S., (1998). The Meaning of Activation Energy and Reaction Order in
Auto accelerating Systems. asmedigitalcollection.asme.org.
https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/gasturbinespower/article-abstract/120/3/468/409143/
The-Meaning-of-Activation-Energy-and-Reaction?redirectedFrom=fulltext.
Shahbaz, S., Iskandar, A., Lower, S. and U, S., (2020). 3.3.3: Reaction Order. Chemistry
LibreTexts.org.
https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Ma
ps/Supplemental_Modules_(Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry)/Kinetics/
03%3A_Rate_Laws/3.03%3A_The_Rate_Law/3.3.03%3A_Reaction_Order.

7.0 APPENDIX
“ Vꝏ - VT at 25°C = 49.8 – 27.5 = 22.3 mL ”

−EA
m=
R
−EA
−3327.5=
8.314
−EA
m=
R
EA=−(−3327.5× 8.314)
−1
EA=27.665 kJ mol