What are galvanic cells in terms of oxidation/reduction reactions?

1 Answer
Apr 11, 2018

Galvanic cell is a cell consists of 3 parts:
1) Reduction half cell
2) Oxidation half cell
3) Salt Bridge.
Consider a reaction,
#Zn+2Ag^+ rarr Zn^(2+)+2Ag#
so it is represented as,
#Zn# / #Zn^(2+)# #|\ |# #2Ag^+#/ #2Ag#
where, the parallel line shows the salt bridge.
Anode =) #Zn rarr Zn^(2+) +2e^-#
Cathode =) #(2Ag^+ +e^-) rarr 2Ag)*2# (bcoz we have to cancel the #e^-#s so multiply (2) equation by 2)
Now, the required galvanic cell eqn is,
#Zn+2Ag^+ rarr Zn^(2+)+2Ag#