Lesson 9: Electrochemical Reactions - Electrons in Motion
In this lesson we will deal with electrochemical reactions. These are reactions which involve the exchange of electrons between chemicals. They are often called redox reactions or oxidation-reduction reactions. The reason for that will be covered later in this lesson.
This lesson is organized into these major parts:
- how electric current can cause some chemical reactions,
- spontaneous reactions involving the exchange of electrons, and
- how some chemical reactions can cause electric current.
Along the way we will look at the nature of electric current, electrolysis, electroplating, oxidation states, standard oxidation potentials, biological redox reactions, and corrosion.
You will find that references to examples and exercises in your workbook will not be sequential, so you will have to skip around to the various examples and exercises as we work through the topics in this lesson.