Inorganic and Applied Chemistry

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Inorganic and Applied Chemistry

Figure 6- 12: Zinc/cobber galvanic cell

The cell is based on the spontaneous reaction between Zn(s) and Cu2+ ions.

The reaction in the galvanic runs spontaneously by which the following half cell reaction take place at the

anode and cathode respectively:

Zn(s)  Zn2+(aq) + 2 e-

Cu2+(aq) + 2 e- Cu(s)

The opposite reaction of the reaction in the galvanic cell may be done in terms of adding current into the

opposite direction of the spontaneous. The added current has to be larger than 1.10 volt which is the standard

potential for the cell in Figure 6-12. Such a set-up is called an electrolytic cell and for the present case such a

cell may be seen from the figure below:

Electrochemistry