Galvanic Cells

[Hector Acosta Discussion 1H]

Will galvanic cells always have a positive E nought value?

[Rachel Lu_dis1H]

yes, because they're spontaneous

[Angel Gomez 1K]

If we calculate a standard potential and the value comes out to be negative, does that mean that it's not a galvanic cell? If not, then what type of cell is it?

[kaushalrao2H]

if we calculate a cell potential and it comes out negative, then we know that the forward process is nonspontaneous while the reverse process IS spontaneous. therefore, the cell can be a galvanic cell going in the reverse (spontaneous) direction. a cell can be considered galvanic if there is some spontaneous process occurring that leads to the generation of an electrical current that can be used to do nonexpansion work.

[Christine Wastila 1H]

If E is negative, then the process is called electrolysis, which is where an electric current is used to drive a non-spontaneous reaction. In a Galvanic cell, chemical energy is converted to electrical energy. The opposite is true of electrolysis.

[Cassandra Mullen 1E]

A galvanic cell occurs spontaneously due to the positive voltage. The cell potential is positive since the cathode electrode potential is greater than the anode electrode potential. The negatively charged electrons flow in the cell since they are attracted to the more positive end.