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What Does It Mean?: Reflections on Concentration, Activity, and Electrode Potential

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Pietro Lanza

Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale e dei Materiali, Universita di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento, 4 - 40136 Bologna, Italy

J. Chem. Educ., 1995, 72 (11), p 1009

DOI: 10.1021/ed072p1009

Publication Date: November 1995

Abstract

Some reflections on concentration, activity, and electrode potential are made in order to explain the significance of apparently meaningless numbers such as extremely low solubility values calculated from certain solubility products. To this end, the nature of the electrode potential and the relation between activity and concentration is discussed. In particular, the effect of ion complexation on activity coefficients and on electrode potential is emphasized. Some practical examples are discussed for: a) the effect of gradually increasing the concentration of a ligand both on ionic strength and complex formation and b) the enormous difference between the activity of Hg2+ and the concentration of dissolved mercury in a HgS saturated solution.

Keywords (Audience):

First-Year Undergraduate / General

Keywords (Feature):

Textbook Forum

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Misconceptions / Discrepant Events

Keywords (Subject):

Solutions / Solvents

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This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

pH Basics
Francesco Scagnolari , Bruno Lunelli
Journal of Chemical Education2009 86 (2), 246
- pH Basics
  Francesco Scagnolari , Bruno Lunelli
  Journal of Chemical Education2009 86 (2), 246
  The exposition of the pervasive concept of pH, of its foundations and implementation as a meaningful quantitative measurement, in nonspecialist university texts is often not easy to follow because too many of its theoretical and operative underpinnings ...
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