Reaction Order:

The reaction order is the power to which the concentration of a reagent in the rate law is raised to. This is an experimentally determined number. For our reaction

    (rxn 1)

the rate can also be expressed as

    (eqn 12)

where k is the rate constant. Now taking the log of both sides of this equation we get

    (eqn 13)

For runs 1, 2, and 3 the [I-] is constant. A plot of the log rate for these reactions vs log [S2O82-] is a straight line with the slope =n.

And for runs 1, 4, and 5 the [S2O82-] is held constant. A plot of the log rate for these reactions vs log [I-] also will yield a straight line with the slope =m.

For both of these graphs the slope will be a whole number, like 1 or 2 or 3... The overall rate of the reaction is m+n.

Following these basic guidelines for plotting your data:

1. use a graphing program (Excel, KaleidiaGraph, Cricket graph....) or use good graph paper. (see http://www.ncsu.edu/labwrite/res/gt/graphtut-home.html for a brief into to graphing with Excel)
2. axis should be labeled. Plot the dependent variable on the y-axis, and the independent variable on the x-axis.
3. a caption or title explaining what the graph means.

You do not have to do an uncertainty analysis for these graphs.