Level: introductory+
Reference: A. Vernon Harcourt, "On the Observation of the Course of Chemical Change," J. Chem. Soc. (London) 20, 460-92 (1867).
Notes: Augustus Vernon Harcourt (1835-1919) was an early investigator of the rates of chemical reactions, that is of chemical kinetics. He was one of the first to express concentrations as a function of time, using what we would call "integrated rate laws."[1]. Exercise 1 asks students to compare three commonly taught integrated rate laws to data published by Harcourt, and to decide among them. Exercise 2 asks students to consider the effect of a reactant concentration on reaction rates. It uses current standard terminology (such as method of initial rates) to describe a relationship Harcourt arrived at using different terms. (Harcourt discerned a direct proportionality between the rate and iodide by inspection.) In other kinetic studies, Harcourt investigated the temperature-dependence of reaction rates. His favorite parameterization was a power law, k = ATm, where A and m are constants, rather than the Arrhenius relationship that eventually became widely adopted.[2]
Solutions: To download solutions, go to:
http://web.lemoyne.edu/giunta/classicalcs/harcourt.doc
To download worked spreadsheet, go to:
http://web.lemoyne.edu/giunta/classicalcs/harcourt.xls
[2]S. R. Logan, "The Origin and Status of the Arrhenius Equation," J. Chem. Educ. 59, 279-81 (1982).
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