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Ch.19 - Electrochemistry

Chapter 19, Problem 89b

Consider the electrolytic cell: b. Indicate the direction of electron flow.

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Hey everyone. So here it says for the give and sell identify each of the following. So here we have to identify um what the note in the Catholic are in part one. So let's do that first. So here we have an illustration of our electrochemical cell. We have our two chambers, one on the left, one on the right, we have our salt bridge that connects them. And then here we have a light bulb. The fact that the light bulb is on means that this is acting as a battery. So this represents a galvanic or voltaic cell. Now how do we determine which part is the antidote and which part is the cathode? The key lies in the concentrations found within each chamber. If we look here we have to remember max voltage, how do we get the maximum amount of voltage from our electrochemical cell from our concept videos. Remember you want max voltage, you want the low concentration for your anote compartment and you want a high concentration in your cathode compartment. And when I'm talking about concentration, I'm talking about the concentration of your cat eye on your positive ion. So here my cathode chamber would have to be this chamber because it has a higher concentration for the copper to ion here, this one is lower concentration. So this would have to be the annual chamber. And this all has to do with the idea of maximum voltage. Now which direction the electrons flow. Remember electrons flow towards the cathode cathode is the site of reduction. So electrons will be leaving the an outside and moving towards the calf outside. Describe what happens to the concentration of copper to ion in each cell. Alright, so remember what's happening in the annals compartment in the catholic compartment? Remember in the compartment electrons are leaving this electrode. So over time this electrode is breaking down. Remember you're a node disappears over time and when it's disappearing over time, what does that mean? Well as it's decreasing over time it's releasing ions. So ions are being released into the solution. So we'd say for the annual compartment there's a build up over time. And what happens is once this side becomes too built up with copper two ions, the reaction itself stops think about it. Negative electrons don't want to leave a site that has a lot of positive ions floating around in solution. What happens to the cathode over time? Well, the cathode is gaining electrons. So eventually the surface of the cathode becomes negatively charged. This attracts the copper two ions dissolved in the solution to adhere themselves onto the electrode. So over time because they're adhering there being neutralized. Our cathode is gonna get bigger. It's gonna plate out. So you'd say that the concentration of the cat ions within the catholic department are going to dwindle dwindle down over time. So that's the way you need to think about. A typical type of electrochemical cell. The cathode is the site of reduction the panel to the side of oxidation. We say that electrons always move towards the cathode. We can say that for maximum voltage, you want to start out with the lowest amount of copper of an ions, cat ions in the annual compartment and a higher concentration of cat ions in the cathode compartment.