1.) According to the Nernst equation, how much should the cell potential change

Question

1.) According to the Nernst equation, how much should the cell potential change if the aqueous component of one of the half cells is changed by a factor of 10?

2.)Which species is a poorer oxidizing agent, [Cu(H2O)6]2+ or [Cu(NH3)4]2+? Explain your answer.

3.)What effect does replacing the water ligands in [Cu(H2O)6]2+ with ammonia ligands to form [Cu(NH3)4]2+ have on the half cell potential of Cu2+/Cu?

4.)In the copper complexes investigated, the water and ammonia molecules act as Lewis bases (electron pair donors); they provide both of the electrons that form the covalent bonds between the Cu2+ ion and each ligand. Which ligand (H2O or NH3) is the stronger Lewis base? Explain your answer in terms of your answers for questions 2 and 3. (hint: the poorer an oxidizing agent a species is, the harder it it to reduce that species. Hint #2: the copper complexes are reduced by gaining an electron.)

Explanation / Answer

1)

The Nernst equation tells us that a half-cell potential will change by 59 millivolts per 10-fold change in the concentration of a substance involved in a one-electron oxidation or reduction; for two-electron processes, the variation will be 28 millivolts per decade concentration change. Thus for the dissolution of metallic copper

Cu(s) ? Cu2+ + 2e

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