Standard electrode potential to produce an electric potential, Gibbs free energy Δ"G"° must be negative, in accordance with the following equation: where "n" is number of moles of electrons per mole of products and "F" is the Faraday constant, ~96485 C/mol. As such, the following rules apply: Thus in order to have a spontaneous reaction (ΔG° < 0), "E"° must be positive, where: where "E"° is the standard potential at the anode and "E"° is the standard potential at the cathode as given in the table of standard electrode potential. Standard electrode potential In electrochemistry, it is defined as the measure of the
Saturated calomel electrode Saturated calomel electrode The Saturated calomel electrode (SCE) is a reference electrode based on the reaction between elemental mercury and mercury(I) chloride. It has been widely replaced by the silver chloride electrode, however the calomel electrode has a reputation of being more robust. The aqueous phase in contact with the mercury and the mercury(I) chloride (HgCl, "calomel") is a saturated solution of potassium chloride in water. The electrode is normally linked via a porous frit to the solution in which the other electrode is immersed. This porous frit is a salt bridge. In cell notation the electrode is written as: