Chemical kinetic experiments to determine rate
laws are common in high school and college chemistry courses.
For reactions involving a color change, rate laws can be
determined experimentally using spectrophotometric or colorimetric
equipment though this equipment can be cost
prohibitive. Previous work demonstrated that inexpensive
handheld camera devices can be used to quantify the
concentration of a colored analyte in solution. This paper
extends this approach to the kinetic study of the color fading of
crystal violet upon reaction with sodium hydroxide. The results
demonstrate accurate determination of the reaction order, with
respect to crystal violet, using a method accessible in many high
school and college laboratories.