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ERIC Number: EJ1304908
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Aug
Pages: 6
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Correcting Frost Diagram Misconceptions Using Interactive Frost Diagrams
Journal of Chemical Education, v98 n8 p2578-2583 Aug 2021
Frost diagrams provide convenient illustrations of the aqueous reduction potentials and thermodynamic tendencies of different oxidation states of an element. Undergraduate textbooks often describe the lowest point on a Frost diagram as the most stable oxidation state of the element, but this interpretation is misleading because the thermodynamic stability of each oxidation state depends on the specific redox conditions in solution (i.e., the potential applied by the environment or an electrode). Further confusion is caused by the widespread use of different, contradictory conventions for labeling the y-axis of these diagrams as either "nE°" or "-nE°," among other possibilities. To aid in clarifying these common points of confusion, we introduce a series of interactive Frost diagrams that illustrate the conditional dependence of the relative stabilities of each oxidation state of an element. We include instructor's notes for using these interactive diagrams and a written activity for students to complete using these diagrams.
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A