Practice question · Multiple choice
Electrode potential is an intensive property, whereas Gibbs energy is extensive. What follows from this distinction when balancing a complete redox reaction?
Hints
- How does electrical potential relate energy to the quantity of charge transferred?
- What happens to an intensive quantity like temperature or concentration when system size is doubled?
Show the answer
A. Multiplying a half-cell equation scales its but leaves unchanged
Why
Thermodynamic potentials scale with the quantity of matter, but electrical potential is normalised per unit charge transferred. Confusing intensive voltages with extensive free energies leads to incorrect stoichiometric scaling during cell calculations.
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