Galvanic Cells

[Dayna Pham 1I]

Hello!
I can't seem to wrap my head around the concept of galvanic cells. In class today, we learned that galvanic cells change chemical energy, but what exactly is a galvanic cell? When "cells" are mentioned, am I suppose to think of biological cells or just pockets of space? I'm having trouble visualizing this.

[MaanasO 1A]

Hi Dayna!

So the galvanic cell is that diagram Lavelle drew on the board. It's the basis for a battery. It's neither a biological cell or a pocket of space.

Hope that helps!

[MadelineHlobik]

So just to clarify, does a galvanic cell involve the cathode and anode?

[Mindy Kim 4C]

Yes, galvanic cells include both the cathode and anode.

[Angela Cong 3C]

It's basically just the drawing on the board that Lavelle had where a spontaneous redox reaction (the cathode and the anode) converts chemical energy into electrical energy through the transfers of electrons

[melodyzaki2E]

A battery is just a collection of galvanic cells joined in a series and each galvanic cell has an anode and a cathode.

[Christopher Tran 1J]

Could someone explain the purpose and importance of having a salt bridge between the galvanic cells?

[juleschang16]

The purpose of a salt bridge is not to move electrons from the electrolyte, rather it's to maintain charge balance because the electrons are moving from one-half cell to the other. The electrons flow from the anode to the cathode.