Electrochemical Series

• It is the series in which the reduction potentials are arranged in descending order . According to IUPAC system only reduction reactions and reduction potentials are taken into consideration
• Electrodes having higher negative value of reduction potential w.r.t hydrogen have a tendency to get oxidized whereas electrodes with positive value of potential tends to undergo reduction in aqueous solution
• Used to predict whether a metal will displace another metal from its salt solution

  • metal with lower E0 value will displace metal with higher E0 value from salt solution
  • metals with negative E0 value will displace hydrogen gas from acids
  • non-metal with higher E0 value will displace non-metal with lower E0 value
• Standard emf of the cell can be calculated with standard reduction potential of electrode
• Spontaneity of a chemical reaction can be judged based on reduction potential. Reaction having more cell emf is more spontaneous.
• Can be used to analyze the products of electrolysis
• Decomposition potential of water (= 1.23 V) , i.e., potential applied to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, can be calculated from electrochemical series