EXPERIMENT No.

2
A GALVANIC CELL
I. Introduction
In today’s modern society, where humans become so dependent to technologies such
as phones, laptops, cars, etc. which made their lives much easier. These technologies only
work thanks to the power of Batteries which are the products of chemistry.
Electrochemistry is the kind of chemistry that happened inside of a battery that we
use in our everyday lives. Battery and electrochemistry are associated together because it
involves reactions that produces or consumes electrons.
As part of electrochemistry, this experiment will be about a galvanic cell by showing
its uses, how it works, its half reactions, and its overall reaction. Also, this experiment will
help the students visualize how Redox reaction produce electrical energy.

II. Outcomes
At the end of this experiment, the students can:
1. investigate the reactions that take place in a galvanic cell.
2. describe the chemical reaction that takes place at the two electrodes causing an
electron to flow through the external circuit.
3. write the two half reactions and write the overall reaction of the cell.

III. Materials
1. Triple Beam Balance 2. Copper and Zinc Plates 3.U–tubew/NaCl paste

4. Voltmeter 5. Copper Sulphate (39.75g) 6. Zinc Sulphate (40.30g)

IV. Procedure
1. Weigh the copper and zinc plates and record their mass.
2. Pour 200 ml of the 1.0 M Zinc sulphate solution into a beaker and place the zinc plate
in the beaker.
3. Pour 200 ml of the 1.0 M copper (II) sulphate solution into the second beaker and place
the copper plate in the beaker.
4. Fill the U- tube with the NaCl paste and seal the ends of the tubes with the cotton wool
(making a salt bridge). The cotton will help stop the paste from dissolving in the
electrolyte.

5. Connect the zinc and copper plates to the zero- centred ammeter and observe the
ammeter.
6. Place the U-tube so that one end is in the copper (II) sulphate solution and the other
end is in the zinc sulphate solution. Observe the ammeter.
7. Take the voltmeter away and connect the copper and zinc plates to each other directly
using copper wire. Leave to stand for about one day.
8.
9. After a day, remove the two plates and rinse them; first with distilled water, then with
alcohol and finally with ether (if available). Dry the plates using a hair dryer.
10.
11.
12. Weigh the zinc and copper plates and record their mass in the table.

Note: A voltmeter was used in place of the ammeter. A zero-centred voltmeter will
measure the potential difference across the cell (not the flow of electrons), while an
ammeter will measure the current.
V. Data

VI. Calculation
VII. Analysis
VIII. Conclusion

RUBRIC FOR EVALUATION OF STUDENT’S PERFORMANCE IN THE LABORATORY

Categories Poor Fair Good Excellent

1 2 3 4
Spelling, grammar, ● Frequent grammar ● Occasional ● Less than 3 ● All grammar/
sentence structure and/ or spelling errors grammar/spelling grammar/spelling spelling correct and
● Writing style is rough errors, generally errors very well written
and incoherent readable with some
rough spots in
writing style

Appearance and ● Missing name, date, ● Name, date, or ● Name, date or ● Name, date, and
Formatting period, and title. period is missing period is missing period included.
● Headings are not and/or title is not but descriptive title ● All sections have
provided. descriptive. is present. headings.
● Sections are out of ● Most sections have ● Most sections have ● Descriptive title is
order and not headings. headings. present.
formatted ● Some sections are ● All sections in order, ● All sections in order
unorganized and formatting generally and well formatted
not formatted good, but could still
be improved
Questions and ● Questions are not ● Questions from the ● Most answers to ● All answers to
Problems answered or are lab sheet are questions from the questions from the
mostly incorrect. minimally lab sheet are lab sheet are
addressed and numbered and numbered and
answered correctly. answered correctly. answered correctly.

Analysis / Summary ● Analysis/summary ● Discussion of ● The purpose of the ● The purpose of the
missing or theory or sources experiment is barely experiment is well
inadequate. of error skipped or justified justified
poorly written. ● Results and ● Thorough
discussion of discussion of
experiment are results of
merely presented experiment.
● Theory and error ● Theory and error
discussions discussions
included. included.

Data Collection ● Missing some parts ● Some of the data ● Data tables are ● Data tables are
of the data. Data are present. Data accurate but accurate and
are not recorded is recorded missing 2 or more collected in real
partially. elements. time. Data are
Data is well recorded
recorded. thoroughly.

Materials ● Many materials are ● Most of the ● Almost all materials ● All materials and
described materials and the and the setup used setup used in the
inaccurately or are setup used in the in the experiment experiment are
not described at all. experiment are are clearly and clearly and
accurately accurately accurately
described. described. described.

Completeness ● Most of the ● Half element ● One element ● All elements

elements required in required in a required in a report required a report
a report are report is missing is missing provided
missing.