Salt bridge and electical field

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
1 reply · 2K views
wnvl2
Messages
64
Reaction score
14
Is it correct that a salt bridge in a Galvanic cell makes that there is no electrical field between the solutions of the two hallf cells? Does that mean that the electrical potential (I do not write electrochemical potential) between both solutions is zero in an ideal world?

Is it also possible to calculate the difference in electrochemical potential between both solutions. I mean the solutions not the electrodes in the solutions. How should that be done?
 
Last edited:
Chemistry news on Phys.org
wnvl2 said:
Is it correct that a salt bridge in a Galvanic cell makes that there is no electrical field between the solutions of the two hallf cells? Does that mean that the electrical potential (I do not write electrochemical potential) between both solutions is zero in an ideal world?
The solutions and salt bridge are 'conductors', except + and - ions carry charge.

In general "The electric field inside the conductor is zero. (Any net electric field in the conductor would cause charge to move since it is abundant and mobile. This violates the condition of equilibrium: net force = 0.)" http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/gausur.html#c2

See the discussion here:
https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses...ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY/17.1:_Electrochemical_Cells
Galvanic cells can have arrangements other than the examples we have seen so far (with a salt bridge). For example, the voltage produced by a redox reaction can be measured more accurately using two electrodes immersed in a single beaker containing an electrolyte that completes the circuit. This arrangement reduces errors caused by resistance to the flow of charge at a boundary, called the junction potential.
 
Reply
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: wnvl2