Modeling Zeroth and First Order Reactions
Zeroth-Order Reaction
Obtain 30 pennies. Place them on a surface and label the area "Reactants"
Every 15 seconds, remove 3 pennies from the Reactants area. Record how many
pennies remain in the Reactants area
Repeat until all pennies have been removed from Reactants area.
Graph Pennies Remaining vs time
Time (seconds)
0
15
30
45
60
75
Pennies Remaining
30
27
24
Time (Seconds)
90
105
120
135
150
165
Pennies Remaining
First Order Reaction
Obtain 32 pennies and place in a large cup
Shake coins and gently pour out on table
Count the coins that landed heads up. Remove those coins. Record shake number and
pennies remaining.
Place remaining coins back in cup and repeat until no coins remain
Calculate the natural logarithm (ln) of pennies remaining
Graph Pennies Remaining versus time and ln of pennies remaining versus time
Shake Number
Pennies Remaining
Shake Number
Pennies Remaining
0
32
4
1
5
2
6
3
7
Adapted from Sanger, M. J. Flipping Pennies and Burning Candles: Adventures in Kinetics
J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 3, 304A-304B