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Lecture

Chemical Equilibria and Reactivity

Description

This lecture covers the concepts of chemical equilibria, reactivity, and redox reactions. It explains the ionization of amino acids, Lewis acids and bases, electron transfers, balancing redox equations, and the functioning of galvanic cells. The importance of standard potentials and the electrochemical series is also discussed.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Chemistry

Physical chemistry: Electrochemistry

Related concepts (32)

Redox

Redox (ˈrɛdɒks , ˈriːdɒks , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a decrease in the oxidation state. There are two classes of redox reactions: Electron-transfer – Only one (usually) electron flows from the atom being oxidized to the atom that is reduced. This type of redox reaction is often discussed in terms of redox couples and electrode potentials.

Electrochemical cell

An electrochemical cell is a device that generates electrical energy from chemical reactions. Electrical energy can also be applied to these cells to cause chemical reactions to occur. Electrochemical cells which generate an electric current are called voltaic or galvanic cells and those that generate chemical reactions, via electrolysis for example, are called electrolytic cells. Both galvanic and electrolytic cells can be thought of as having two half-cells: consisting of separate oxidation and reduction reactions.

Reduction potential

Redox potential (also known as oxidation / reduction potential, ORP, pe, , or ) is a measure of the tendency of a chemical species to acquire electrons from or lose electrons to an electrode and thereby be reduced or oxidised respectively. Redox potential is expressed in volts (V). Each species has its own intrinsic redox potential; for example, the more positive the reduction potential (reduction potential is more often used due to general formalism in electrochemistry), the greater the species' affinity for electrons and tendency to be reduced.

Standard electrode potential (data page)

The data values of standard electrode potentials (E°) are given in the table below, in volts relative to the standard hydrogen electrode, and are for the following conditions: A temperature of . An effective concentration of 1 mol/L for each aqueous species or a species in mercury amalgam (an alloy of mercury with another metal). A partial pressure of 101.325 kPa (absolute) (1 atm, 1.01325 bar) for each gaseous reagent.

Galvanic cell

A galvanic cell or voltaic cell, named after the scientists Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, respectively, is an electrochemical cell in which an electric current is generated from spontaneous Oxidation-Reduction reactions. A common apparatus generally consists of two different metals, each immersed in separate beakers containing their respective metal ions in solution that are connected by a salt bridge or separated by a porous membrane. Volta was the inventor of the voltaic pile, the first electrical battery.

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