CHEM 1C Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Potassium Dichromate, Cuvette, Spectrophotometry
12 Apr 2020
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Document Summary
In this experiment, the production of ethanal through the oxidation of ethanol by potassium dichromate was measured using a spectrophotometer. This process was used to determine whether the reaction was first or second order. First, a cuvette with potassium dichromate and sulfuric acid was inserted into the spectrophotometer. The computer program loggerpro was then used to graph the absorbance values, and the optimal wavelength for measuring the absorbance was selected to be 443. 9 nanometers. Then, a cuvette with potassium dichromate, sulfuric acid, and ethanol was inserted into the spectrophotometer. The absorbance values were collected for a total of three minutes, and then after data collection stopped, the final absorbance values were recorded for another five minutes until they stabilized. After all the data had been collected, the rate laws for both a first and second order reaction were graphed to determine the order of the reaction.
