A 1.0 mL volume of 0.010 M H2SO4 is added to a mixture of 6 drops of 0.010 M HIO3, 14 drops of deionized water, and 1 drop of starch solution. A color change in the reaction mixture occurred after 56 seconds.

a. Assuming 20 drops per milliliter for all solutions, determine the initial molar concentration of HIO3 after the mixing but before any reaction occurs (at time = 0).
b. The rate of the reaction is measured by the disappearance of HIO3. For the reaction mixture in this question, what is the reaction rate? Express the reaction rate in units of mol HIO3/L / sec to the correct number of siginificant figures.
Is the answer for part a:
0.010 M x (14 drops/41 drops) = 1.46 x 10-3 M or 1.5 x 10 ^-3 M
As for part b, I'm not sure how to set up this question.
I did balance an equation and have
2 HIO3 + 5 H2SO3 ---> 5 H2SO4 + H2O

The 41 drops is correct but not the 14. That's for water. You want HIO3 so it is 0.010 x (6/41) = ?

My bad that was a typo my answer stays the same though. WHat about part b.) ?

For part a, the initial molar concentration of HIO3 can be determined by using the volume ratios of the drops. However, to accurately calculate the initial concentration, we need to account for the dilution caused by adding 14 drops of water.

Here's how you can calculate the initial molar concentration of HIO3 (at time = 0):

1. Determine the total volume of the mixture at time = 0:
Total volume = Volume of H2SO4 + Volume of HIO3 + Volume of water + Volume of starch solution
= 1.0 mL + (6 drops / 20 drops/mL) + (14 drops / 20 drops/mL) + (1 drop / 20 drops/mL)
= 1.0 mL + 0.3 mL + 0.7 mL + 0.05 mL
= 2.05 mL

2. Calculate the initial molar concentration of HIO3:
Initial concentration of HIO3 = (Volume of HIO3 / Total volume) * Concentration of HIO3
= (0.3 mL / 2.05 mL) * 0.010 M
= 0.146 M

So, the initial molar concentration of HIO3 (at time = 0) is 0.146 M.

Regarding part b, to determine the reaction rate, you need to use the change in concentration of HIO3 over time. Since the concentration of HIO3 decreases as it reacts, you can use the rate at which it disappears.

The reaction rate can be expressed as:
Rate = Δ[HIO3] / Δt

Given that a color change occurs after 56 seconds, you will need the change in concentration of HIO3 and the corresponding time interval.

If additional information is provided regarding the concentration of HIO3 at a specific time interval, then the rate of the reaction can be determined.

For part a, you correctly calculated the initial concentration of HIO3 after mixing but before any reaction occurs. The formula you used to calculate it is:

Initial concentration of HIO3 = Concentration of HIO3 solution x (Number of drops of HIO3 solution / Total number of drops in the mixture)

Now let's solve part b, determining the reaction rate. To do this, we need to use the information given about the color change in the reaction mixture occurring after 56 seconds.

The reaction rate is a measure of how quickly a reactant or product concentration changes over time. In this case, we want to find the rate of disappearance of HIO3, which is a reactant.

The rate of the reaction can be calculated using the formula:

Reaction rate = Change in concentration of HIO3 / Change in time

To find the change in concentration of HIO3, we need to know the initial concentration of HIO3 and the concentration of HIO3 at the time of the color change. Unfortunately, the information given doesn't directly provide these values.

However, we can make an assumption that the reaction is zero-order with respect to HIO3. This means that the rate of the reaction does not depend on the concentration of HIO3. In other words, the reaction rate is constant regardless of the concentration of HIO3.

Under this assumption, the reaction rate can be calculated as the change in concentration of HIO3 divided by the change in time:

Reaction rate = (Final concentration of HIO3 - Initial concentration of HIO3) / Change in time

Since we don't have the actual concentrations, we cannot compute the actual reaction rate in this particular case. However, you can set up the calculation based on this assumption and use the given concentrations as initial and final concentrations.

For example, if the initial concentration of HIO3 (at time = 0) is 1.5 x 10^-3 M (as you calculated in part a), and the color change occurs at 56 seconds, you could set it up like this:

Reaction rate = (0 M - 1.5 x 10^-3 M) / 56 s

Note that the final concentration of HIO3 is assumed to be 0 M because it completely reacts and disappears. Now you can perform the calculation to find the reaction rate in units of mol HIO3/L/sec.

Just be aware that the zero-order assumption may not be accurate in reality without more information about the specific reaction and its kinetics.