Cathode vs Anode

[Angela Wu-2H]

What is a cathode and what is an anode? Is cathode just always the one on the left side of the cell diagram?

[Helen Struble 2F]

The cathode is the site of the reduction half reaction. Because metallic cations are being reduced to an uncharged species, the cathode gains mass. The anode is losing mass because the metallic species is losing electrons (being oxidized), and these cations then become aqueous in solution.

[005162520]

Cathode is the half reaction that is being reduced and anode is the half reaction that is being oxidized. And usually in the cell diagrams, anode is on the left and cathode is on the right.

[Lauren Stack 1C]

The cathode is where the reduction reaction takes place in a salt bridge circuit. It is usually designated on the right side of the diagram. Conversely, the anode is where the oxidation occurs and is usually found on the left side of the diagram.

[Eesha Chattopadhyay 2K]

The cathode is the reaction that is being reduced, and the anode is the reaction that is being oxidized. Usually they put the anode on the left and the cathode on the right but not necessarily always.

[Harry Zhang 1B]

Cathode is where reduction happens and anode is where oxidation happens.

[805394719]

A cathode is a positively charged electrode which the electrons flows toward because of its positive charge. An anode is a negatively charged electrode which the electron flows from because of its negative charge. These hold true for cathodes and anodes for a Galvanic cell. Oxidation is the loss of an electron and the result is the lost electron being transferred to the cathode which is the species that will accept the electron and be reduced. Since the electron is lost by the species that is oxidized and the electron always flows from the anode to the cathode, the oxidation reaction always occurs at the anode, whereas the reduction reaction occurs at the cathode. The reason we place the anode on the left and cathode on the right is that we want the potential between the two sides to be positive and since the potential is found by final - initial, we have to have cathode - anode which will give us a positive value.

[Anushka Chauhan2B]

The anode is where oxidation happens and the cathode is where reduction happens

[EllieSchmidtke_4I]

The oxidation half-reaction occurs at the anode, whereas the reduction half-reaction occurs at the anode.

[Areli C 1L]

Cathode is what is being reduced and the anode is what is being oxidized. Mind you these would be the half rxns for their corresponding part.

[Jesalynne 2F]

The cathode is where reduction occurs and the anode is where oxidation occurs. I don't think it necessarily matters what side of the diagram it is on, but the anode is usually on the left side of the diagram and the cathode is on the right side.

[ThomasNguyen_Dis1H]

Cathode is the half reaction that is being reduced while the anode is the half reaction that is being oxidized. I like to use the acronym a RED CAT and AN OX to tell which is which. The cathode also goes on the right side of the diagrams by convention.