use the appropriate standard reduction potentials in the appendix of your book to determine the equilibrium constant at 285 K for the following reaction under acidic conditions

4H+(aq) + MnO2(s)+2Fe+2(aq)----> Mn+2 (aq)+2Fe3+(aq)+2H2O(l)
The reductions potentials are 1.23 V and 0.770 V for the reduction and oxidation equations. I still can't figure out the answer.

1 answer

The first step is to determine the overall cell potential. In this case, you have provided the standard reduction potentials for both half-reactions, so we can use the equation:

E(cell) = E(cathode) - E(anode)

Since reduction occurs at the cathode while oxidation occurs at the anode, we need to assign them to the half-reactions that correspond. Here the MnO2 is reduced to Mn^2+, so its E value is the reduction potential, and the Fe^2+ is oxidized to Fe^3+, so its E value is the oxidation potential.

E(cell) = 1.23 V - (-0.77 V) = 1.23 V + 0.77 V = 2.00 V

Now, we can use the Nernst equation to find the equilibrium constant (K) for the reaction at 285K.

The Nernst equation: E(cell) = (RT/nF) ln(K)

Where R is the gas constant (8.314 J/(mol*K)), T is the temperature in Kelvin (285 K), n is the number of moles of electrons transferred in the reaction (2 for this reaction, since the Mn is changing by 2 charges and the Fe is also changing by 2 charges but there are two moles of Fe in the balanced equation), and F is the Faraday constant (approximately 96485 C/mol).

First, we'll rearrange the Nernst equation for K:

K = e^(nFE(cell) / RT)

Plugging in the values:

K = e^((2 mol x 96485 C/mol) x (2.00 V) / (8.314 J/(mol*K) x 285 K))

K = e^(30.87)

K = 2.43 x 10^13

At 285 K, the equilibrium constant for the reaction under acidic conditions is approximately 2.43 x 10^13.