Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Effect of temperature on voltage of an electrochemical cell
2004
I was wondering if you could help me on a question I've been trying to figure out.
How does temperature have an effect on the voltage reading in a electrochemical cell.
My anode and cathode are aluminum and Nickel. From what I understand, as you increase in temperature of the cell, the voltage should decrease. but I'm not sure. Thank you for your time.
DonaldStudent - Vancouver, BC, Canada
2003
Some things are theoretically true but difficult to prove without sophisticated instrumentation, and that may be the situation in your case, Donald. The cell resistance consists of several components that are hard to separate including resistance of the wiring (which increases with higher temperature), static electrochemical force differences between the anode and cathode, boundary layer resistances, and solution resistance (which decreases with higher temperature but is also affected by solution concentration changes). It doesn't surprise me if you are having trouble measuring or even detecting the change in solution resistance due to temperature.
You didn't ask, but I'm suspicious about the usability of an aluminum anode here, and it's ability to throw your calculations off kilter as a resistive skin builds on it.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
I have a standard Cu/Zn voltaic cell. I decreased the cell concentration of the Zn ion. The cell potential should increase thanks to Nernst. However, I have repeatedly got a decrease in the actual measurement. I went from 0.2 M to 0.01 M and got decrease. I went from 0.5 M to 0.2 and still got a decrease. I replaced voltmeters, saltbridge, connectors... I am at a loss to explain what is happening.
Dale E. Taylor jracademic - West Point, New York
2006
I am writing an essay and I am wondering what the effect is of temperature and concentration on electrochemical cells. I know that resistance of the wire goes up respectively with temperature but I can't seem to find any other information about this topic. Thanks for your time.
Charles BoyleStudent - Kalamazoo, MI, United States
January 15, 2009
I have to write a lab report on how temperature affects the voltage of electrochemical cell. it temperature increases, reactivity increases and voltage decrease...why?
please help me out.!
student - Jakarta, Indonesia
September 21, 2011
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