Leena Vo 200134035

CH101 006 Final Project: THINK

Part A:

Concepts Identified, Explained & Listed:

Pertaining to redox:
o Anode & Cathode
The inert electrode placed in the brine is the anode, and the inert electrode placed in the water is the cathode. The
electrons leave the anode side and go to the cathode side, because opposite charges attract.
o Oxidation & Reduction
Oxidization occurs in the anode compartment, while reduction occurs in the cathode compartment. Cl1- undergoes
oxidation by losing an electron and forming Cl2 (g), while H2O undergoes reduction by gaining an electron and
forming OH1- and H2(g).
o Oxidizing Agent & Reducing Agent
Cl1- , the reducing agent, gets oxidized, while H2O, the oxidizing agent, gets reduced. The reducing agent willingly
donates an electron, and the oxidizing agent accepts it.
o Spontaneity
The electrons spontaneously move to lower energy and to more positive potentials, thus going from the brines
anode to the waters cathode. In a spontaneous reaction, the donor orbitals (Cl 1-) are higher in energy than the
acceptor orbitals (H2O).
o Cell Potential
The diaphragm cells cell potential, in units of volts, is Ecell = Ecathode Eanode or = Ereduction process Eoxidation process. Using
the potential values from the Standard Reduction Potentials Table, the cell potential would be -0.83-1.36= 0.53 V.
o Galvanic Cell
The diaphragm cell is similar to the galvanic cell by having 4 parts: an anode compartment, a cathode
compartment, a membrane acting as the galvanic cells liquid junction/salt bridge & a power supply that the 2
electrodes are hooked up to acting as the galvanic cells load. Like the galvanic cells liquid junction/salt bridge, the
diaphragm cells membrane allows for electrons to go between the 2 compartments, maintaining the charge
balance from the cations crossing over into the cathode, water-containing chamber.
o Work
The diaphragm cells power supply acts as the galvanic cells load that extracts the reactions work. The reactions
work produces the chemicals of chlorine gas, hydrogen gas, and concentrated sodium hydroxide/caustic soda.
o Half-Reactions
From the Standard Reduction Potentials Table, H 2Os reduction half reaction is 2 H2O(l) + 2 e- H2(g) + 2 OH(aq),
and Cl1-s oxidation half reaction is 2 Cl-(aq) Cl2(g) + 2 e-. Since the table is of reductions, Cl1-s reaction and its
corresponding potential has to be flipped for it to be an oxidation reaction.
o Orbital Energy
H2O is on a lower valence orbital, is good at attracting electrons, and has a more positive potential, which
corresponds with having a large ionization energy, a large electron affinity, and electrons feeling more positive
charge. Cl1- is on a higher valence orbital, is poor at attracting electrons, and has a less positive potential, which
corresponds with having a small ionization energy, a large electron affinity, and electrons feeling less positive
charge.
o Energetics & Potentials
The negatively-charged electrons tend to go to lower energy, so they are attracted to more positive potentials and
thus feel more positive charge. The electrons flow from anode to cathode, because H2O has a more positive
potential of -.83 Volts than Cl1- s -1.36 Volts.
Pertaining to other topics:
o Entropy
The diaphragm cells change in entropy is positive, because the reactants were liquid, and gases were produced.
The production of H2(g) and Cl2(g) increased the ways the system can arrange, resulting in a positive change in
entropy for all spontaneous processes and a negative change in free energy, indicating a spontaneous process.
Leena Vo 200134035
o Equilibrium
Since the change in free energy is negative, the forward reaction is spontaneous, which leads to mostly products
when equilibrium is reached. When writing the equilibrium constant equation, the reactant water would not be
included, because its a liquid.
o Extensiveness
The reaction is extensive if the reactions cell potential is positive and if the change in free energy is negative. The
diaphragm cells reaction is extensive, because the cell potential is +0.53 V.
o Solubility
According to the Solubility Rules, the reactant brine and the product concentrated sodium hydroxide/caustic soda
are soluble. NaCl is soluble, because all chlorides are soluble, and NaOH is soluble, because sodium is an exception.
o Ionic Bonding
NaCl (brine reactant) is held by ionic bonding, because Na is a metal, and Cl is a nonmetal. NaOH (concentrated
sodium hydroxide/caustic soda product) is held by ionic bonding, because Na is a metal, and OH is a nonmetal.
o Materials & Properties
The materials are brine/concentrated salt water, water, chlorine gas, hydrogen gas, and caustic soda/concentrated
sodium hydroxide. In order mentioned, some physical properties of these materials are having a lower freezing
point than pure water, being odorless, having a green-yellow color, being highly combustible, and being a white
solid.
o Oxidation States
During Cl1-s oxidation, its oxidation state becomes more positive or less negative, and during H2Os reduction, its
oxidation state becomes more negative or less positive. Cl1-s oxidation state is -1, and H2Os oxidation state is +1.
o Strengths & Potentials
The strongest oxidizing agents have the most positive potentials, while corresponding reducing agents are the
weakest. The strong oxidizing agent, H2O, has the most positive potential, and the weak reducing agent, Cl1-, has
the most negative potential.
o Electrolysis
Brine/concentrated salt water undergoes electrolysis to produce hydrogen gas, chlorine gas, and concentrated
sodium hydroxide/caustic soda. The power supply provides the electric current that goes through the 2 solutions.
o Dissolving Processes
Since the solute (brine/concentrated salt water) is an ionic compound, the products (sodium & chloride ions) are
ions. The 3 simultaneously-occurring processes during the solutions dissolution is the breaking of ionic bonds, the
breaking of intermolecular forces, and the formation of ion-dipole forces.

Part B:

Concepts Organized:
(included pdf file of digital illustration of concept map in WebAssign & printed on separate page for in-class submission)
Leena Vo 200134035
Part C:

Process/Experimental Setup Changes:

If the brine consisted of concentrated solution of KBr rather than concentrated NaCl, the process would change by
producing bromide ions, instead of chloride ions, at the anode in the KBr solution/anode compartment, and the
experimental setup would change by conducting the experiment in a fume hood due to bromines corrosive and
poisonous properties similar to that of chlorine and being cautious to not let the gases build up, because hydrogen and
bromine can possibly react to cause an explosion or ignition. Other things that would change would be the cell potential
value (bromines flipped reduction half-reaction would be used instead of chlorines), the potassium ion would pass
through the membrane to the cathode compartment instead of the sodium ion, the gas produced (bromine gas would
be produced instead of chlorine gas), the 3rd product produced (instead of NaOH being produced, KOH would), and
instead of Cl1- undergoing oxidation and being the reducing agent, Br1- would.

Part D:

Effectiveness of 2 Approaches Compared:

For me, I think the effectiveness of these 2 approaches would compare by having 15 minutes of silence to really focus on
the chlor-alkali process and generate an individual list being the less effective approach. I feel this way, because as a
saying goes, Two heads are better than one. By discussing the chlor-alkali process as a group, we can each find
concepts that we wouldnt have thought of it werent for someones unique perspective/thought process, and we can
help each other out if we arent confident with the material. For example, my classmate wouldnt have known the terms
acceptor orbital and donor orbital if she hadnt asked me about what concepts I saw. I knew these by doing the
extra textbook notes that are linked to the online class notes. Another example is when I had to get my classmate to
reaffirm my thoughts between concepts. For example, I was unsure if I had flip-flopped the oxidation and reduction
definitions. Being able to work together allows us to generate more concepts than by ourselves by using concepts we
individually find as each of us skim through our own notes.

Concepts Differences:
The difference between the concepts that I knew right away and those that I took a while to come up with was that
the recently learned concepts popped up first. Picking up the connections took me hours of poring over my notes. For
example, I had to look through my oldest notes to find the relationship between spontaneity, extensiveness, change in
entropy, change in free energy, energy orbital, and potential. This might affect my studying by changing my study
strategies. Instead of studying a group of puzzle pieces at a time for each test, I should connect those puzzle pieces and
connect more as I learn new material. That way, by the end of the course, I can realize the connections of each topic and
see the big picture of the course materialthis THINK initiative finally allowed me to discover the big picture of the
connectedness of every topic. Seeing the connections will make my studying time more efficient, and I will be able to
recall specific topics easier if Im able to associate it with a connection.