Spontaneity

[905373636]

Do higher cell potentials within a cell indicate anything about the rate of the reaction or just the spontaneity?

[Ronak Naik]

Higher cell potentials will indicate a greater level of spontaneity; however, spontaneity is a thermodynamic concept. It does not relate to kinetics, and thus, will not tell us anything about the speed of a reaction.

[Chris Tai 1B]

Spontaneous processes don't necessarily happen quickly, it just means that over time there is a tendency for that reaction to occur.
The equation that relates spontaneity to the cell potential difference is deltaGknot = -nFEknot. This makes sense, because the more positive the E value of cell potential is, the battery is able to convert more energy to do electrical/chemical work, and because there is a negative sign, the value of deltaGknot will be more negative. Hence, the reaction as a whole will be more negative, and have a spontaneous nature. The opposite is true if the value of E is negative.

[DHavo_1E]

Spontaneous processes don't necessarily happen quickly, it just means that over time there is a tendency for that reaction to occur.
The equation that relates spontaneity to the cell potential difference is deltaGknot = -nFEknot. This makes sense, because the more positive the E value of cell potential is, the battery is able to convert more energy to do electrical/chemical work, and because there is a negative sign, the value of deltaGknot will be more negative. Hence, the reaction as a whole will be more negative, and have a spontaneous nature. The opposite is true if the value of E is negative.

Hello,

What does it mean when E is positive or negative? Thank you!

[Angela Wu-2H]

Higher cell potentials will indicate a greater level of spontaneity; however, spontaneity is a thermodynamic concept. It does not relate to kinetics, and thus, will not tell us anything about the speed of a reaction.

So then what tells us about the speed of a reaction? Is it just a catalyst?

[305385703]

Cell potential has nothing to do with reaction speed, although there are other factors that can speed up a reaction with a large cell potential. Think of it as the distance in energy between the products and reactants.

[VLi_2B]

Spontaneous processes don't necessarily happen quickly, it just means that over time there is a tendency for that reaction to occur.
The equation that relates spontaneity to the cell potential difference is deltaGknot = -nFEknot. This makes sense, because the more positive the E value of cell potential is, the battery is able to convert more energy to do electrical/chemical work, and because there is a negative sign, the value of deltaGknot will be more negative. Hence, the reaction as a whole will be more negative, and have a spontaneous nature. The opposite is true if the value of E is negative.

Hello,

What does it mean when E is positive or negative? Thank you!

If an electrode potential is negative that means it's donating electrons. If the electrode potential is positive it means that it is taking electrons.

[Chris Tai 1B]

Spontaneous processes don't necessarily happen quickly, it just means that over time there is a tendency for that reaction to occur.
The equation that relates spontaneity to the cell potential difference is deltaGknot = -nFEknot. This makes sense, because the more positive the E value of cell potential is, the battery is able to convert more energy to do electrical/chemical work, and because there is a negative sign, the value of deltaGknot will be more negative. Hence, the reaction as a whole will be more negative, and have a spontaneous nature. The opposite is true if the value of E is negative.

Hello,

What does it mean when E is positive or negative? Thank you!

If E is a positive value, then there is a positive difference in cell potential, which means there's potential for the cell to do work. This phenomenon is favorable, and indicates that it is likey that electrons will flow in a redox reaction. If E is a negative value, then the opposite is true.