Please help! On problem 921 in exam krackers it asks which is the strongest reducing agent?
My answer was F- because it has the most negative value, which I thought the higher the value the more it is oxidized therefore a better reducing agent.
But the solution says:
B is correct. Reducing agents want to be oxidized. Hg2+ and Au3+ can't be oxidized; their charges can't be increased anymore. F- and Cl- are already shown being oxidized, and the voltage is greater for the chloride, so choice B is correct. It is a fairly standard MCAT trick to write some half-reactions as oxidations rather than reductions, so watch out for it!
2F -> F2 +2e- -2.87V
2CI ->Cl2+2e -1.36 v
Hg2+ + 2e- ->Hg +0.85 v
Au3+ + 3e- -> Au +1.52 v
Can someone please explain why the answer is Cl- and not F??
My answer was F- because it has the most negative value, which I thought the higher the value the more it is oxidized therefore a better reducing agent.
But the solution says:
B is correct. Reducing agents want to be oxidized. Hg2+ and Au3+ can't be oxidized; their charges can't be increased anymore. F- and Cl- are already shown being oxidized, and the voltage is greater for the chloride, so choice B is correct. It is a fairly standard MCAT trick to write some half-reactions as oxidations rather than reductions, so watch out for it!
2F -> F2 +2e- -2.87V
2CI ->Cl2+2e -1.36 v
Hg2+ + 2e- ->Hg +0.85 v
Au3+ + 3e- -> Au +1.52 v
Can someone please explain why the answer is Cl- and not F??