Title: The Determination of Keq for FeSCN2+ Abstract: The purpose of this lab was to calculate the equilibrium

constant for the reaction of iron (III) with thiocyanate ions. The lab was divided into two parts. In the first part, we created reference solutions and measured the absorbance for each reference solution using a spectrophotometer. In order to make the reference solutions, we added different volumes of Fe(NO3)3 and KSCN in 5 reference tubes. While the volume of the former increased, the volume of the later decreased. After adding the specific volume of chemicals into the test tube, some of that solution was poured into cuvet which was then placed in the spectrophotometer. The absorbance of the solution as the volume of KSCN increased, going from .140 for reference solution 1 to .655 for reference solution 5. The same was done with the test solution 6-10. After plotting the values from the reference solutions we were able to find the concentrations of each of the chemicals involved. Using the law of mass action equation, we found the equilibrium constant for each test solution. The average equilibrium constant was ____. However, the average deviation came out to ____ when we found the average of the absolute value of the differences between the average equilibrium constant and the individual equilibrium constants. (Insert Sources of Error). The significance of this experiment is that it gives people in the science community an experimental way to determine the value of the equilibrium constant for a reaction. This would help them when they are looking at the equilibrium of a reaction or any other experiment that involves knowledge about the equilibrium of a certain reaction.

Post-Lab Questions: 1. Explain what is meant by equilibrium constant. Was the value constant for all your experiments? Should it have been constant?

The equilibrium constant is the rate and the forward and reverse reactions are taking place. In equilibrium, both reactions will be occurring at the same rate. The value for equilibrium constant was not the same for all the experiments. The value should have been constant for all the experiments. The value for Keq is to remain constant as long as the reaction is in equilibrium and the temperature has not changed. 2. What does the calculated value of the equilibrium constant indicate regarding the completeness of the reaction? In other words, at equilibrium. Are there more products, reactants, or relatively large amounts of both? The value for equilibrium constant is well above 1 for each of the test solutions. Therefore the reaction favors the products. This means that there are more products at equilibrium. 3. Suggest other experiments in which a spectrophotometer would be used. The Spectrophotometric Determination of Copper Content in a Penny Intro to Blocktronic Spectrometry Determination of Chemcial Equilibrium Constant Experiments on Subtractive Color Mixing