The traffic light reaction is an example of an oscillating chemical reaction that is typically used for demonstration purposes. The reaction is ideal for chemical education since it uses cheap and ubiquitous reagents, is simple to assemble, and produces vibrant and easily observable color changes (hence the name). The initial idea of this project was to create a simple and effective lab to demonstrate kinetics in a general chemistry lab environment. However, we found that the traffic light reaction, through ubiquitous, is mechanistically complex and is poorly documented literature. In the end, this study focused on refining a previously used chemical traffic light lab procedure, which produced inconsistent results and unnecessarily long reaciton times, and deeply exploring the reaction kinetics. The procedure, which uses a mixture of glucose, sodium hydroxide and indigo carmine dye, was controled to study the independent effect of each reagent, as well as pH, on the overall reaction time and intermediate reaction stages. In doing so, we created a newly refined and reliable experiment, and we discovered somenew and interesting mechanistic details about a decades old reaction.

Exploring the kinetics of the traffic light reaction: Complex and poorly defined system

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.