Redox reactions and electrochemistry

This course is a part of Chemistry, a 18-course Topic series from Khan Academy.

Oxidation and reduction reactions power your phone and make it possible for your body to use the oxygen you inhale. We will learn about oxidation states (numbers), oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions, galvanic/voltaic cells, electrolytic cells, cell potentials, and how electrochemistry is related to thermodynamics and equilibrium.

This course contains 6 segments:

Oxidation-reduction reactions

Oxidation and reduction are powerful ideas for thinking about how charge is transferred within a reaction. As we'll see, it is something of a hypothetical, but it is, nonetheless, very useful.

Galvanic cells

Batteries power much of our lives (literally). In this tutorial, we'll use our knowledge of oxidation and reduction to understand how Galvanic/Voltaic cells actually work.

Standard cell potentials

An introduction to calculating cell potentials at standard state.

Electrochemistry, thermodynamics, and equilibrium

Relating the cell potential to the equilibrium constant K and Gibbs free energy.

Cell potentials under nonstandard conditions

Calculating the cell potential when operating at nonstandard conditions.

Electrolytic cells and electrolysis

An introduction to electrolytic cells and electrolysis