1

Activity No. 5

VOLTAIC CELL

INTRODUCTION

A voltaic cell is an electrochemical cell that uses a chemical reaction to produce

electrical energy. As an electrochemical cell, oxidation-reduction reactions occur, where
the anode is the electrode at which the oxidation half-reaction occurs, and the cathode is the
electrode at which the reduction half-reaction occurs. Hence, the important parts of a voltaic cell
are: the anode which is an electrode where oxidation occurs and the cathode is an electrode
where reduction occurs.

In order to have an electric current, which is transported through matter by the

conduction of electric charge from one point to another, there must be a force and a charge
carrier. The force is usually a battery or some other source of electrical energy. The charge
carrier can be either electrons (as in the case of metals) or ions (as in the case of ionic solutions
or molten salts). The first case is called metallic conduction and the second is electrolytic
conduction.

There are two types of electrolytic conductance that may be considered. One is an
electrolytic cell, in which electrical energy causes a chemical reaction to take place. The other
one is the voltaic cell or galvanic cell, in which a chemical reaction produces electrical energy.

In a voltaic or galvanic cell, the oxidation-reduction reaction is carried out in such a way
that the electrons being transferred from the reducing agent to the oxidizing agent travel through
a wire and thus produce an electric current.

One example of a voltaic cell involves zinc metal in a solution containing Cu2+ ions. The
overall reaction that takes place is

Net Reaction: Zn(s) + Cu2+(aq)  Zn2+(aq) + Cu(s)

Figure 5. A simple voltaic cell using (a) a porous partition, and (b) a salt bridge.
 2

If the reaction is carried out in such a way that the zinc metal does not come in contact
with the Cu2+ ions, the energy given off may be obtained as electricity. This is done in a cell like
that shown in Fig. 5. In this cell, the solution containing the Cu 2+ ions is separated from the
solution in which the zinc metal is placed. The two solutions are separated by a porous plate, as
shown in Fig. 5.a. They can also be separated by a salt bridge, which contains an ionic substance
and allows ions to pass from a solution in one container to a solution in another container, as
shown in Fig. 5.b. When the switch in the external circuit is closed, the reaction will begin to
take place since electrons can then pass through the anode to the cathode. The two half-reactions
that take place are

Anode: Zn  Zn2+ + 2e (oxidation)

Cathode: Cu + 2e
2+
 Cu (reduction)

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this activity, you should be able to:

1. describe a voltaic or galvanic cell

2. name the components of a galvanic cell and the tell the function of each component.
3. discuss how a galvanic cell works.
4. make the cell notation of the galvanic cell.
5. determine the electromotive force (emf or voltage) of the cells;

To be able to attain your objective for this activity, you are required to view a video
about a virtual experiment on VIDEO 1 entitled “Introduction to galvanic cell” for 13 minutes
and 30 seconds only. Although it is a 27-minute and 41 seconds video, you view only up to
13:30 only. You are also required to view VIDEO 2 about, “Electrochemical Series and its
Application”. It is a 10:55 virtual experiment but you are only required to view up to 5 minutes
and 38 seconds for this activity.
3