The silver/silver chloride as reference electrode

Principle

An exactly functioning standard hydrogen electrode is always somewhat laborious to make and to handle. Because of this, there was a search for a simpler electrode with which one could also carry out correct and reproducible potential measurements. In the meantime, two electrodes have been shown to fulfill the requirements of such a substitute. This are the silver/silver chloride electrode and the mercury/mercury chloride electrode (also called the calomel electrode). In this experiment students prepare a silver/silver chloride electrode and determine the potential of it against a standard hydrogen electrode.

Learning objectives

• Reference electrodes
• silver/silver chloride electrode

Benefits

• Easy teaching and efficient learning by using interactive experimentation PHYWE-Software
• Experiment is part of a complete solution set with experiments for the topic Electrochemistry matched with international curriculum: all topics are covered