Name and Signature: Elumbra, Nico Jay L.

Course & Section: BET ECET 1B

Instructor & Professor: Prof. Olivia Date submitted : 1/23/22

EXPERIMENT No. 6
VOLTAIC CELLS
Objective:
At the end of the activity, the student will be able to:
1.define voltaic cell;
2.make a voltaic cell using the principle of ionization tendencies of different metals (the ability of
the metal to be oxidized or reduced); and
3.arrange metals in decreasing order of their ionization tendencies (or decreasing tendency to
be oxidized).
Procedure:
A.Voltaic Cell
1.Clean a 1 x 3 cm copper strip and a 1 x 3 cm zinc strip with a sand paper.
2.Place 80 mL of 1N H2SO4in a 250 mL beaker.
3.Connect the Cu strip to the positive terminal and the Zn strip to the negative terminal of the
ammeter with connecting copper wires. Puncture a hole on one end of each strip then insert the
Cu wire if alligator clips are not available.
4.Immerse the electrodes in the 1N H2SO4.
5.Observe if electricity is produced (if it generates electricity even not connected to any external
source of electricity) and the reactions taking place inthe electrodes. Record your observations.
B. Ionization Potentials of Metals
1.Get four metal strips namely: copper, zinc, silver, and lead.
2.Clean each metal as in procedure A1.
3.Place the metals on a piece of filter paper, moisten each metal with its electrolyte: Cu with
Cu(NO3)2, the Ag with AgNO3, the Pb with Pb(NO3)2and the Zn with Zn(NO3)2.
4.Add KNO3(to act as a salt bridge) at the center of the filter paper.
5.Taking two metals at a time as electrodes, determine the voltage output. If the
reading is positive (spontaneous), the metals are connected to the correct terminals of the
voltmeter, if not, immediately reverse the connections. Record which metal serves as the
positive electrode (red) and which serve as the negative electrode (black).6.Record the
voltage output (experimental), and compare them to the theoretical values.7.Calculate the
% error.
DATA & RESULT SET-UP
 A. Voltaic Cell

METAL STRIPS Reaction taking Place in the electrodes

Copper The Copper cathode gradually gains electrons causing it to
increase in mass due to production of copper metal.
Zinc The Zinc anode gradually disminishes as the cell operates due to
the loss of the zinc metal

A. Ionization Tendencies of Metals

ELECTRODE POSITIVE NEGATIV VOLTAGE VOLTAGE %

S (red) E OUTPUT OUTPUT ERROR
CATHOD (black) (EXPERIMENTA (THEORITICA
E ANODE L) L)
Cu and Ag Silver Copper 0.34 V 0.46 V 26.087%
Cu and Pb Lead Copper -0.50 V -0.47 V 6.38298%

Zn and Cu Copper Lead 0.50 V 0.47 V 6.38298%

Zn and Ag Silver Zinc 1.24 V 1.56 V 20.5128%

Zn and Pb Lead Zinc 0.50 V 0.63 V 20.6349%

Pb and Ag Silver Lead 0.86 V 0.93 V 7.52688%

) Cu and Ag
COMPUTATION:
Solution
1 Cu and Ag
Cu(s) Cu2+(aq) + 2e- E°= -0.34 V
2Ag+1(aq) + 2e- 2Ag(s) E°= 0.80 V
Cu(s) + 2Ag+1(aq Cu2+(aq) + 2Ag(s) E°= 0.46 V

Percentage error
E = 0.34 and T = 0.46
= |E−T||T|×100
= (0.34−0.46) |0.46|×100
= −0.120.46×100
= −0.26087×100
 = −26.087%

= 26.087%error

2) Cu and Pb
Cu(s) Cu2+(aq) + 2e- E°= -0.34 V
Pb+2(aq) + 2e- Pb(s) E°= -0.13 V

Cu(s) + Pb+2(aq) Cu2+(aq) + Pb(s) E°= -0.47 V

Percentage Error
E = -0.5 and T = -0.47
= |E−T||T|×100
= (−0.5−−0.47)|−0.47|×100
= −0.030.47×100
= −0.0638298×100
= −6.38298%
= 6.38298%error

3) Cu and Pb
Pb(s) Pb2+(aq) + 2e- E°= 0.13 V
Cu+2(aq) + 2e- Cu(s) E°= 0.34 V
Pb(s) + Cu+2(aq) Pb2+(aq) + Cu(s) E°= 0.47 V

Percentage Error
for E = 0.5 and T = 0.47
= |E−T||T|×100
= (0.5−0.47) |0.47|×100
= 0.030.47×100
= 0.0638298×100
= 6.38298%
= 6.38298%error
4) Zn and Cu
Zn(s) Zn2+(aq) + 2e- E°= 0.76 V
Cu+2(aq) + 2e- Cu(s) E°= 0.34 V
Zn(s) + Cu+2(aq) Zn2+(aq) + Cu(s) E°= 1.1 V
Percentage Error
for E = 0.9 and T = 1.1
= |E−T||T|×100
= (0.9−1.1) |1.1|×100
= −0.21.1×100
= −0.181818×100
= −18.1818%
= 18.1818%error

5) Zn and Ag
Zn(s) Zn2+(aq) + 2e- E°= 0.76 V
2Ag+1(aq) + 2e- 2Ag(s) E°= 0.80 V

Zn(s) + 2Ag+1(aq) Zn2+(aq) + 2Ag(s) E°= 1.56 V

Percentage Error
for E = 1.24 and T = 1.56
= |E−T||T|×100
= (1.24−1.56) |1.56|×100
= −0.321.56×100
= −0.205128×100
= −20.5128%
= 20.5128%error

6) Zn and Pb
Zn(s) Zn(s) Zn2+(aq) + 2e- E°= 0.76 V
Pb+2(aq) + 2e- Pb(s) E°= -0.13 V
Zn(s) + Pb+2(aq) Zn2+(aq) + Pb(s) E°= 0.63 V

Percentage Error
for E = 0.5 and T = 0.63
= |E−T||T|×100
= (0.5−0.63) |0.63|×100
= −0.130.63×100
= −0.206349×100
= −20.6349%
= 20.6349%error

7) Pb and Ag
Pb(s) Pb2+(aq) + 2e- E°= 0.13 V
2Ag+1(aq) + 2e- 2Ag(s) E°= 0.80 V
Pb(s) + 2Ag+1(aq) Pb2+(aq) + 2Ag(s) E°= 0.93 V

Percentage Error
for E = 0.86 and T = 0.93
= |E−T||T|×100
= (0.86−0.93) |0.93|×100
= −0.070.93×100
= −0.0752688×100
= −7.52688%
= 7.52688%error

Discussion and Result:

A.
1. From your observations, write the reaction that occurs in each electrode.
A) Positive Electrode
-As you can see above, during their half-reaction the positive electrodes which is
cathode gains electrons.
B) Negative Electrode
- If cathode gain electrons in their reaction, anode losses electrons.
2. What kind of reaction occurs at:
A) Cathode
- The reaction that occurs at the cathode is reduction.
B) Anode
- The reaction that occurs at the anode is oxidation.
3. Explain your observation about the bulb connected in the voltaic cells.
- Upon watching the video, we observed that the man in the video uses zinc plate and
copper plate to create voltaic cells. Then, these two electrodes were dipped in an electrolytic
solution which is hydrochloric acid.  Zinc electrodes are oxidized to zinc ions. This happens
because zinc is higher than copper on the acti vity series, which means the zinc electrode
losses electrons. Based on observati on, the electrons that are generated at zinc travel
through the external wires att ached to it, and that’s when the copper receives electrons.
The fl ow of electrons from the two is the reason why the bulb light up.

4. Which of the unknown metals has the highest ionizati on tendency? Explain your
answer.

-The highest ionization tendency among the four metals is zinc. Zinc has the highest
tendency because it has the highest energy among the four metals, which means it’s the most
difficult to lose an electron.
5. Which has the lowest ionization tendency? Explain
 - The lead has the lowest ionization tendency because it has the lowest ionization
energy among the four.
6. Arrange the metals in decreasing order of their ionization tendencies.
- Zinc, Copper, Silver, and lastly is Lead.

Application:
1. Why are primary cells such as the carbon-zinc cells, not rechargeable while
secondary cells such as the lead storage cells are rechargeable?
- Primary cells are not rechargeable because their reaction product is not in
contact with the electrodes which means primary cells have an irreversible reaction
while secondary cells such as lead can store energy and convert chemical energy into
electrical energy by a reversible reaction.
2. The voltage output of a voltaic cell depends on what factors?
- Temperature of the solution, the distance between the electrodes, the depth of
electrode in electrolytes, the reactivity of the metals, and the concentration of
electrolyte; are some of the factors that can affect the voltage output of the voltaic cell.