Kinetics Program for lron(lll) Catalyzed Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide A computer program for use in general chemistry has been written in Basic which calculates rate Constants and activation energy for the iron(II1) catalyzed decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.' The first part d the program determines rate constants for this first-order reaction from a plot of log,[HzOzl versus time in minutes. Either the hydrogen peroxide concentration or the temperature of the system may be varied. The second part calculates the activation energy using Arrhenius' expression. Input includes: initial and final temperature of the water bath ("C),atmospheric pressure (ton), vapor pressure of water (ton), initial concentration of hydrogen peroxide (mmoles), total volume of solution (ml), number of buret readings (not to exceed 50), initial buret reading (ml), and the actual buret readings (ml) taken at 1-min intervals. Output includes: millimoles d oxygen produced, millimoles of hydrogen peroxide consumed and remaining, and natural logarithm of millimoles of hydrogen peroxide remaining. An internal subroutine includes a complete statistical package for calculation of linear least squares analysis, standard deviation, and coefficientsof correlation and determination. Options include direct calculation of activation energy if values for rate constants have been determined previously and output of residuals from linear least squares analyses. Copies of the program along with sample output may be obtained from the author. This work is supported hy the National Science Foundation, through grant number GJ-30211. 'Anderson, C., and Hawes, J., "Basic Experimental Chemistry," 2nd ed., W. A. Benjamin, Menlo Park, California, 1971, p. 211-18. Robert J. Merrer Villa Maria College Erie, Pennsylvania 16505
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/ Journal01 Chemical Education
