An Oscillating Reaction
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Each year, Joan Pease, AP Chemistry teacher at Hall High School, West Hartford, CT, has her students participate in a Chemistry Fair. She has her students design a unique experiment testing a topic that was studied during the year. Last year, two of her students, Douglas Dell’Accio and David Leer, designed a project that investigated the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Oscillating Reaction. Their novel approach was to use a Vernier Conductivity Probe to investigate the reaction.
The variation of the “BZ” reaction Douglas and David tested involved reacting potassium bromate (KBr03) with malonic acid and manganese sulfate (MnSO4) in a solution of concentrated sulfuric acid. The results help illustrate the mechanism of the reaction. Data from one trial are shown below.
