| Themes > Science > Chemistry > Electrochemistry > Introduction to Electrochemical Techniques > Electrochemical Measurements > Electrochemical Measurements |
In real systems all three types of polarization will be observed to a greater or lesser extent, and much of the underlying theory of electrochemistry is concerned with relating the polarization to fundamental physico-chemical properties such as activation energy, temperature, diffusion coefficient and ionic mobilities. As electrochemists interested in reactions involving metal surfaces, we take these theories, make any necessary simplifying assumptions (usually very sweeping assumptions!) and then use the relationships between experimental variables such as current, potential, temperature, and solution composition to analyze and interpret our experimental results. The theories of electrochemistry are well-established and reasonably simple - the real skill in their application to real problems lies in making the optimum assumptions, and in recognizing when these assumptions are starting to break down. In order to investigate the values of the
various parameters controlling the electrochemical reaction it is often
necessary to perturb the system in some way. There are a wide range of
electrochemical techniques which have been developed to study reactions at
metal surfaces, but by taking a rather broader view of the nature of an
electrochemical experiment we can classify all possible experiments into
one of three general classes: |
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