Calculating Standard Cell Potential
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:46 pm
Just for confirmation, there are two ways to calculate the standard cell potential.
For example if you were given the following:
A --> A+1 + 1e- E = 0.70 V
B --> B+2 + 2e- E= -0.20 V
You can calculate the standard cell potential by determining that the highest E value will be the cathode and the other will be the anode. With this information you can do Standard Cell Potential = E(cathode) - E(anode).
OR
You can flip the oxidizing reaction, hence flipping the sign of the E value for that reaction, and then adding up all the cell potentials to get the standard cell potential.
With both ways, you should get the same answer right?
For example if you were given the following:
A --> A+1 + 1e- E = 0.70 V
B --> B+2 + 2e- E= -0.20 V
You can calculate the standard cell potential by determining that the highest E value will be the cathode and the other will be the anode. With this information you can do Standard Cell Potential = E(cathode) - E(anode).
OR
You can flip the oxidizing reaction, hence flipping the sign of the E value for that reaction, and then adding up all the cell potentials to get the standard cell potential.
With both ways, you should get the same answer right?