Nernst Equation

Lesson 5 of 11 • 7 upvotes • 11:17mins

Pallavi D

It's a humble request to ask your doubts in comments and not in course reviews. A doubt was asked in the course review regarding this lecture which I'm answering here. Learner didn't see the question carefully, that's why she got confused. Electrode potential given in the question for oxidation reaction is OXIDATION POTENTIAL and not reduction potential. Whereas, if we use the eqn Ecell=Ered- Eoxi, in this eqn both Ered & Eoxi are actually reduction potentials. So to use this eqn, we have to change the given oxidation potential for oxidation reaction into reduction potential which can be done by negating it. Therefore, Eoxi (reduction potential for oxidation)= -Eoxi(value given in question). So, putting it in Ecell eqn, we get Ecell =E red + Eoxi. Hope this clarifies the doubt.