Study of red-ox reactions and potentials

Abstract

Scope of Study: Study was made in various chemistry reference books and selected college texts which serve as references for this report. The report consists of a summary of studies related to oxidation-reduction reactions and the fundamental behavior of the constituents of electrolytic solutions. Examples of calculations of certain potentials, their use in predicting the possible course of chemical reactions, and the description of some methods for obtaining unknown potentials follows. The relation of the oxidation potential to some thermodynamic properties of chemical reactions is then considered. The theory has been generalized and the specific examples of chemical reactions used are those which most high-school chemistry teachers will be familiar with. An explanation of the arbitrary conventions used in the theory of oxidation-reduction reactions is included to aid in the understanding of this study.

Findings and Conclusions: Unfortunately the high-school chemistry teacher may be poorly acquainted with this unit of chemistry, since treatment of it in the conventional courses is often scanty; lacking this background, the teacher may not be able to give adequate explanation of the principles involved. By combining the fundamental theory with the study of various reactions and their potentials, a better perception of this phase of chemistry may be obtained.