Kice and Bowers studied the decomposition of p-toluene sulfinic acid (pTSA) (J Am Chem Soc 84:605, 1962).

Question:

Kice and Bowers studied the decomposition of p-toluene sulfinic acid (pTSA) (J Am Chem Soc 84:605, 1962). Th ey found the stoichiometry to be

The scientists removed a portion of the reaction mixture and performed a titration at periodic intervals to determine the concentration of pTSA. Their results are shown in the table. Determine the rate law and reaction order. Time (s) 0 900 1800 2700 3600 7200 10800 18000 [pTSA], M 0.100 0.0863 0.0752 0.064 0.0568 0.0387 0.0297 0.0196