SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC DETERMINATION OF THE

EQUILIBRIUM CONSTANT OF A REACTION

J.B. BATO
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES, DILIMAN, QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES
DATE PERFORMED: 27 FEBRUARY 2015, 4 MARCH 2015
INSTRUCTORS NAME: MARIECRIS BANEZ

ABSTRACT
The equilibrium constant of the reaction involving the formation of
Iron (III) thiocyanate was determined by computing for the absorbance
and component concentrations via spectrophotometric analysis.
Fe Cl3
Solutions of varying concentrations of
and KSCN were
formulated and allowed to reach equilibrium before being analyzed for
their absorbance of a certain wavelength. The molar absorptivity
determined from calibration and the equilibrium concentrations from
the unknown solutions were all computed using equilibrium
relationships and Beer-Lamberts Law. A molar absorptivity value of
1099.2 M-1cm-1 was obtained which led to an equilibrium constant of
704.8, which was lower than the accepted literature value. The error,
however, was determined to be less than 20.8% of the theoretical
value, which would indicate the existence of errors to skew the results.

CONCLUSION
RECOMMENDATION

AND

Both the molar absorbance and

the equilibrium concentrations
were found to be moderately
accurate as
The
experimental
molar
absorbance of the complex was
found to be inaccurate, showing
a deviance of 69.0% from the
theoretical value at 3550 M-1cm1
.The molar absorbance value of
1099.2 M-1cm-1 computed from
the plot of standard solutions
was used to calculate the
equilibrium constant in the

unknown solutions.
The experimental equilibrium
constant was found to be
moderately accurate, having a
mean value of 704.8 and
showing only a deviance of
20.8% from the literature value
of
890.
From
this,
the
experiment could be considered
slightly successful because of
the low deviation of the
constant values.
More accurate measurements
and a way to stabilize the
temperature
and
pressure
during
measurement
may

improve the accuracy of the

results. Other improvements are
in the handling and rinsing of
the cuvette, where the methods
used in this experiment might
not be adequate enough to
clean the cuvette of any
previous
solution
and/or
contaminants, which may factor
into the measured absorbance
of each subsequent solution.
The procedure can also be
improved by the measurement
of absorbance immediately after
the reagents are mixed together
in a test tube so that the
complex formed won't settle
down.
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Spectrophotometry. In USNA Courses for General Chemistry

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Ramette, R. (1963). J. Chem. Ed.
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Skujins,
S.
(1986).
Some
Potential Areas of Application of
UV-Visible
Derivative
Spectroscopic Techniques . In
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