Does anyone know of an electrochemical modeling or simulation software that can simulate chemical reactions and battery configurations?
After dozens of times looking at Galvanic/Voltatic and Electrolytic cells, and having probably a hundred or so questions on it, I STILL do not understand what they even accomplish, and I still get confused about the differences between them. Can someone help me with this?
What I've gathered so far is that Galvanic cells are spontaneous, and that Electrolytic cells are nonspontaneous. Beyond that, I seem to always get these questions wrong. Any help on this would be very much appreciated!!!
never got a definite answer from anywhere yet the study design says we have to be able to compare the energy efficiencies of the two. does that mean we need to memorise that fuel cells are 40-60% efficient whereas galvanic cells are 60-90% efficient?
I was reading an online material then I came upon a cell notation for an electrolytic cell (I determined that it was an electrolytic cell because of the absence of a salt bridge). Usually, I will proceed on reading but since cathode and anode is switched for an electrolytic cell, which side of the cell will be the cathode and the anode?
while observing the firearms of the mechanicus i noticed a recurring theme in terms of design. all weapons have a strange cylinder near the trigger which at first seems like a magazine clip, odd considering its positioned near the actual magazine clip of the weapon. its easy to assume that this is the reason why mechanicus firearms are so powerful and deadly against armored units, they all function using galvanic cells/batteries.
i noticed that the new weapons of the astartes, most importantly weapons like bolters and plasma guns, being better in terms of range and armor penetration. the most remarkable example of this trend is with bolters and heavy bolters variants with larger magazines. these weapons, similar to the comparison of the bolter and heavy bolters, have heavier caliber bolts yet fire them at twice the fire rate and range, causing much more devastating damage against armor. this is also something interesting withing the Macrostubber sicarans use, its a handheld SMG that turns into a full on heavy machine gun due to the galvanic cells electrochemical currents.
the electric motor found in heavy bolters did this successfully for millenia but notice how that results in the heavy bolter being cumbersome, requiring the heavy bolter to the also connected a battery on the back of an astartes and probably adds weight to the astartes himself, due to carrying an electric powersource in addition to bolts and the heavy bolter itself. instead, belisarius cawl found a better, more advanced and compact version of this technology that he can now apply to every single weapon of the astartes, even their plasma weapons.
the genius here is that belisarius cawl did the impossible, he perfected the bolters design, something the emperor himself could not do. more and more weapons patters and variants for the astartes are being announced with the recurring design of the cylinder meaning the technology is being explored and developed with the primaris being the "lab rat" on which the technology is being field tested.
the only question i have for this is, will we see other military branches in the imperium using galvanic batteries for other weapons? this could make the leman russ tank vanquisher cannon almost as strong as a railgun and autoguns of poor guardsmen regiments strong enough to rip orks apart.
I am trying to understand the purpose of the solution in the oxidation half cell.
In this example, the oxidation half cell has a zinc anode and a zinc nitrate solution. The reduction half cell has a copper cathode and a copper nitrate solution. A salt bridge of sodium chloride joins them together.
So to my understanding, the zinc anode oxidises into a zinc cation and electron, which is sent across the circuit to the cathode. The copper from the copper nitrate solution then precipitates to form copper, leaving the nitrate ions behind.
So at this point, the oxidation half cell consists of zinc ions and zinc nitrate, while the reduction half cell consists of nitrate ions only. The sodium and chloride ions then go to the respective half cells to neutralise the charge.
So in all this, what was the purpose of the zinc nitrate solution in the oxidation half cell? Could there not have easily have been water, or is there some role that I am missing?
Hello chemists and enthusiasts I'm very confused about Anodes, Cathodes and galvanic/electrolytic cells so please bear with me.
So I think I understand the idea behind a galvanic cell, The cathode would always be the the one that Oxidizes the strongest between the two, so the electrons go from the reducing agent to the oxidizing agent, so the reaction is spontaneous
Say a Redox reaction between Cu2+ and Zn:
Cu2+(aq) + Zn(s) -> Cu(s) + Zn2+(aq)
Which has the electric potential of 1.1V
Now, If I decide that now the Cu would be anode and Zn cathode, I would get a negative potential, meaning the reaction isn't spontaneous. But here's where I get confused - If I set Cu as "anode" and Zn as "cathode" then wouldn't the reaction still go the same way as before? meaning that electrons would go from Zn to Cu? and if we wanted the reaction to go the other direction we would have to supply an external power to it, does the act of doing that make the cell electrolytic?
Sorry for blabbering, I'll try to TL;DR: Is every cell galvanic (assuming the reducing potentials of the electrodes are different) until we add an external source of power - in which case it becomes electrolytic or did I get it completely wrong?
Thank you!
Hi friends!
Just encountered some interesting questions from UPangea and I want some confirmation because I am confused as heck.
I know that in circuits, or for example, in isoelectric focussing the Anode is ANION loving so it is +, and the Cathode is CATION loving so it is -. Further, electron flow in circuits is cathode to anode (and current is anode to cathode because it is the opposite).
Now this is where I get confused. Why is it in galvanic cells electrons travel from anode to cathode? Is it because reduction occurs at the cathode therefore electrons are required for that process to occur? And when would electron flow stop?
Thanks!
A little confused as I was going through content review in the MileDown anki deck because it appears that the picture provided says concentration cells are galvanic while the Cloze says electrolytic cell. Thanks.
https://imgur.com/a/Mho34K3
EDIT: I don’t mean the same cells. I mean can a certain concentration cell be galvanic and another electrolytic
Hello everyone!
I am familiar with the basic difference between these two types of cells (aka spontaneity, reducing the substance with the lower reduction potential) but I seem to get tripped up on some of the details.
Reduction ALWAYS happens at the cathode, regardless of the cell type if I'm correct, meaning electrons will always travel from anode to cathode and current will travel the opposite direction (I think?). I am more confused about when the electrodes are + or - and what this means conceptually. Also where the + or - ions in the solutions move in each type of cell and how to remember this. If anyone can help me out with some hard/fast rules and explain why they are that would be so helpful.
I am reading about galvanic cells in my textbook and just can't understand the mechanism of what is going on. I am going to provide the example that they use, so could you please help me understand the process that occurs (btw this is for laboratory galvanic cells).
They say that for in the oxidation half-cell, the metal (M) oxidises with this reaction: M(s) -> M+(aq) + e-
They list an example of this process as using a copper metal band, and a solution of copper sulfate. I just don't understand what causes the copper metal to oxidise in this situation. The way I see it, the reactants are: Cu(s) + CuSO4(aq), and somehow the copper metal oxidises to lose an electron (unless the water does something that my textbook doesn't mention).
I have problems understanding a lot of the other processes in galvanic cells, but I think this would be a good starting point in making progress. Thanks a lot for your help!
If you set up a galvanic cell and the voltage is lower than predicted, what could be some reasons why this is the case?
If we look at system at constant temperature and volume which is galvanic cell, first law of thermodynamics states:
dU=dQ+dW′
Where W' is electrical work exchanged between galvanic cell and surroundings and Q is heat exchanged with surroundings.
I am using chemistry sign convention for work ,which can be seen in the way first law is written, that is work is positive if surroundings does it on system. In our example, electrical work is going to be negative because we have galvanic cell which by definition does electrical work on surroundings.
We know that adding heat to the system increases internal energy of the system because it increases mostly average kinetic energy of the molecules. It can also affect average potential energy of interaction (intermolecular and chemical bonds).
What about electrical work in context of galvanic cells? Electrical work is work done by electric field when charge moves certain potential difference. What does that have to do with internal energy changes in context of galvanic cells? With heat exchanged, I do understand how it affects internal energy, but with electrical work I am less sure.
electrolytic are non spontaneous while galvanic is spontaneous. now for both does reduction happen at cathode and oxidation at the anode?? like is the only difference that electrolytic needs external energy but it flows same direction as galvanic.
now for my next question when a cell is recharged we use external energy/battery and in that case is our oxidation and reduction sites along with electron flow still the same? like it should be opposite no? and recharging the cell is so similar to electrolytic cell operating so im confused if and why is electrolytic cell same direction flow as galvanic and not the same as a battery
I have not found a good answer yet. In a galvanic cell, the anode is negative but in an electrolytic cell the anode is positive. How can they attract the same thing? Or is it because you are supposed to look at it in terms of the electron flow?
We did an experiment for uni that’s supposed to show how increasing the concentration of one of two copper nitrate solutions in a Cu/Cu galvanic cell increases the potential difference measured.
Keyword, increases.
We compared this to a Cu/Cu galvanic cell setup where both the solutions had the same concentration. The potential difference here was 0,09 V but does that make sense?
How can there even be a potential difference if there isn’t a difference in potential on each side? The question does suggest that there is an increase from a nonzero point, but how is that possible?
Looking at a way to make galvanic cells at home, I was watching a video about Electrochemistry, it said that zinc + copper gives 1.1v, wiki page confirms this, but in reality you can get ~0.7V. Is the difference due to saltwater not being alkaline? Would using sodium hydroxide as a electrolyte boost voltage? This article seems to suggest that 0.76V is a real voltage.
If we look at system at constant temperature and volume which is galvanic cell, first law of thermodynamics states:
dU=dQ+dW′
Where W' is electrical work exchanged between galvanic cell and surroundings and Q is heat exchanged with surroundings.
I am using chemistry sign convention for work ,which can be seen in the way first law is written, that is work is positive if surroundings does it on system. In our example, electrical work is going to be negative because we have galvanic cell which by definition does electrical work on surroundings.
We know that adding heat to the system increases internal energy of the system because it increases mostly average kinetic energy of the molecules. It can also affect average potential energy of interaction (intermolecular and chemical bonds).
What about electrical work in context of galvanic cells? Electrical work is work done by electric field when charge moves certain potential difference. What does that have to do with internal energy changes in context of galvanic cells? With heat exchanged, I do understand how it affects internal energy, but with electrical work I am less sure.
If we look at system at constant temperature and volume which is galvanic cell, first law of thermodynamics states:
dU=dQ+dW′
Where W' is electrical work exchanged between galvanic cell and surroundings and Q is heat exchanged with surroundings.
I am using chemistry sign convention for work ,which can be seen in the way first law is written, that is work is positive if surroundings does it on system. In our example, electrical work is going to be negative because we have galvanic cell which by definition does electrical work on surroundings.
We know that adding heat to the system increases internal energy of the system because it increases mostly average kinetic energy of the molecules. It can also affect average potential energy of interaction (intermolecular and chemical bonds).
What about electrical work in context of galvanic cells? Electrical work is work done by electric field when charge moves certain potential difference. What does that have to do with internal energy changes in context of galvanic cells? With heat exchanged, I do understand how it affects internal energy, but with electrical work I am less sure.
