Gibs free energy

[Clara Cho 2K]

when you're given a balanced chemical reaction, how do you figure out what n is in the equation for Gibbs free energy?

[christabellej 1F]

n stands for the moles of electrons transferred in the equation. One example you could use is the reaction where Zn is oxidized to Zn2+ and Cu2+ is reduced to Cu. Since each reactant is oxidized/reduced by 2, the n would be 2.

[Brian_Ho_2B]

The method that I use for a more a more advanced or complicated redox reaction: What you do is you start off with the completely balanced redox reaction, and then what you essentially do is work backwards one step in the balancing process. You take the full redox reaction and split it up into the two half reactions for reduction and oxidation. You then assign a certain amount of electrons to one side of each half reaction to balance the charges. Given that you started off with the balanced reaction and moved one step back, there should be the same amount of electrons on both sides of the half reactions overall. That number of electrons on both sides is the amount of electrons transferred, and that's the number you use for "n".

[Hannah Romeo 1J]

n stands for moles of electrons transferred during the reaction. You want to look at the substances that are oxidized and reduced and see how the oxidation number changes along with the stoichiometric coefficients.