Note for Engineering Chemistry - EC By Harsha Vardhan

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www.UandiStar.org Jntu.UandiStar. www.examupdates.in Lecture notes: UNIT 1 ELECTROCHEMISTRY AND BATTERIES: 1.1 .Concept of Electro Chemistry: The study of the processes involved in the inter conversion of electrical energy and chemical energy is known as electro chemistry. Conductance-electrolyte in solution: Ohm’s law states that “the resistance of a conductor is directly proportional to its length and inversely proportional to its area of cross section. R = ρ.l/A Where R = resistance (ohm) ρ = specific resistance or resistivity l = length (cm) A = area of cross section (cm2) Specific conductance, Equivalent conductance and molar conductance: Specific conductivity (k) : The reciprocal of specific resistance or resistivity of an electrolytic solution is known as specific conductivity. Unit : ohm-1cm-1 or S cm-1 Equivalent Conductivity (Λ eq ) : The conductance of all the ions present in 1 equivalent of the electrolyte present in the given solution at a given dilution is known as equivalent conductivity. Unit : ohm-1 cm2 eq-1 Molar Conductivity (Λ m ): The conductance of all the ions present in one mole of the electrolyte present in the given solution at a given dilution is known as molar conductivity. Unit : ohm-1 cm2 mol-1 Variation of specific conductivity with dilution: Specific conductivity depends on the following factors: (1) the number of ions (2) the amount of water present. As the dilution i.e., the amount of water increases, the conducting power of 1 cm3 of the electrolytic solution decreases. www.UandiStar.org

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www.UandiStar.org Jntu.UandiStar. www.examupdates.in Variation of Equivalent Conductivity with dilution: The conducting power of an electrolyte is due to the ions present and this increases with increase in the dilution. The equivalent or molar conductivity increases as the number of ions present in a solution having one equivalent or one mole of electrolyte increases with dilution. 1.2 KOHLRAUSCH'S LAW "At infinite dilution, when dissociation is complete, each ion makes a definite contribution towards equivalent conductance of the electrolyte irrespective of the nature of the ion with which it Is associated and the value of equivalent conductance at infinite dilution for any electrolyte is the sum of contribution of its constituent ions", i.e., anions and cations. Thus, /\∞ = λa + λc The and are called the ionic conductance of cation and anion at infinite dilution respectively. The ionic conductances are proportional to their ionic mobilities. Thus, at infinite dilution, λc = ku c and λa = ku a where u c and u a are ionic mobilities of cation and anion respectively at infinite dilution. The value of k is equal to 96500 c, i.e., one Faraday. Thus, assuming that increase in equivalent conductance with dilution is due to increase in the degree of dissociation of the electrolyte; it is evident that the electrolyte achieves the degree of dissociation as unity when it is completely ionized at infinite dilution. Therefore, at any other dilution, the equivalent conductance is proportional to the degree of dissociation. Thus, Degree of dissociation,α = /\/(/\∞ ) =(Equivalent conductance at a given concentration)/(Equivalent conductance at infinite dilution) 1.3 Galvanic cells: A Galvanic cell consists of two half-cells. In its simplest form, each half-cell consists of a metal and a solution of a salt of the metal. The salt solution contains a cation of the metal and an anion to balance the charge on the cation. In essence the half-cell contains the metal in two oxidation states and www.UandiStar.org

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www.UandiStar.org Jntu.UandiStar. www.examupdates.in the chemical reaction in the half-cell is an oxidation-reduction (redox) reaction, written symbolically in reduction direction as Mn+ (oxidized species) + n e− M (reduced species) In a galvanic cell one metal is able to reduce the cation of the other and, conversely, the other cation can oxidize the first metal. The two half-cells must be physically separated so that the solutions do not mix together. A salt bridge or porous plate is used to separate the two solutions. The number of electron transferred in both directions must be the same, so the two half-cells are combined to give the whole-cell electrochemical reaction. For two metals A and B: An+ + n e− A Bm+ + m e− B m A + n Bm+ n B + m An+ This is not the whole story as anions must also be transferred from one halfcell to the other. When a metal in one half-cell is oxidized, anions must be transferred into that half-cell to balance the electrical charge of the cation produced. The anions are released from the other half-cell where a cation is reduced to the metallic state. Thus, the salt bridge or porous membrane serves both to keep the solutions apart and to allow the flow of anions in the direction opposite to the flow of electrons in the wire connecting the electrodes. The voltage of the Galvanic cell is the sum of the voltages of the two halfcells. It is measured by connecting a voltmeter to the two electrodes. The voltmeter has very high resistance, so the current flow is effectively negligible. When a device such as an electric motor is attached to the electrodes, a current flows and redox reactions occur in both half-cells. This will continue until the concentration of the cations that are being reduced goes to zero. For the Daniel cell, depicted in the figure, the two metals are zinc and copper and the two salts are sulfates of the respective metal. Zinc is the more reducing metal so when a device is connected to the electrodes, the electrochemical reaction is Zn + Cu2+ → Zn2+ + Cu www.UandiStar.org

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www.UandiStar.org Jntu.UandiStar. www.examupdates.in The zinc electrode is dissolved and copper is deposited on the copper electrode. By definition, the cathode is the electrode where reduction (gain of electrons) takes place, so the copper electrode is the cathode. The cathode attracts cations, so has a negative charge. In this case copper is the cathode and zinc the anode. Galvanic cells are typically used as a source of electrical power. By their nature they produce direct current. For example, a lead-acid battery contains a number of galvanic cells. The two electrodes are effectively lead and lead oxide. 1.4 Reference electrode: Saturated calomel electrode The Saturated calomel electrode (SCE) is a reference electrode based on the reaction between elemental mercury and mercury (I) chloride. The aqueous phase in contact with the mercury and the mercury (I) chloride (Hg2Cl2, "calomel") is a saturated solution of potassium chloride in water. The electrode is normally linked via a porous frit to the solution in which the other electrode is immersed. This porous frit is a salt bridge. In cell notation the electrode is written as: Theory of operation The electrode is based on the redox reaction The Nernst equation for this reaction is where E0 is the standard electrode potential for the reaction and a Hg is the activity for the mercury cation (the activity for a liquid is 1). This activity can be found from the solubility product of the reaction www.UandiStar.org