i have a doubt on May/June 2007 paper 4
Question 1(b). need help and explanation to get the answer please
Conditions Product at anode Product at cathodeZnCl
2(l) Cholrine Zinc
ZnCl
2(concentrated aqueous) Chlorine Hydrogen
ZnCl
2(diltue aqueous) Oxygen Hydrogen
NOTE : Positive ions get discharged at the cathode while negative ones are discharged at the anode.
i) Zinc Chloride in liquid form is composed of Zn
2+ and Cl
- ions which are discharged at the electrodes forming the respective compounds.
ii) Concentrated aqueous Zinc Chloride contains the following ions : Zn
2+, Cl
-, H
+ and OH
-.
For
cations, you should compare them from the reactivity series. The lower the cation is in the reactivity series the earlier it will be discharged in preference to the most reactive cation.
This is why hydrogen gets preferentially discharged at the expense of Zn
2+For
anions, it's about the same thing but you should note that the second part is concentrated aqueous, which means that Cl
- is abundant while OH
- is present in very small amount.
Hence
oxygen will be formed in both cases but it in so minimal amount that you won't even notice and Cl
- will immediately be discharged after that.