Electrochemistry

MCAT Basics (from MedSchoolCoach)

MedSchoolCoach

Science

4.6 • 612 Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of MCAT Basics, we’ll cover Electrochemistry. We start with the role of salt bridges in electrochemical cells and cover the intricacies of cell notation. We’ll also discuss how ions maintain charge balance, the importance of reduction and oxidation potentials, and how these elements come together in galvanic and electrolytic cells. We’ll also take a closer look at concentration cells and the critical Nernst equation, which helps us understand cell potentials under non-standard conditions.

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[00:00] Introduction to MCAT Basics

[01:09} Introduction to Electrochemistry

[03:20] Concentration cell: same metal, different ion concentrations

[13:05] Visualizing galvanic cells using royal analogy

[22:19] Reduction potential, oxidation potential, cell potential explained

[30:47] Electrochemical cells, Gibbs free energy, and Nernst equation

[41:16] Electroplating and electric current to coat metals

[45:40] Electrochemistry in Nanobiology: measuring oxidation of molecules

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to MCAT Basics, your ultimate guide to the essential topics you need to master for the MCAT,
0:06.0	brought to you by the physicians at Med School Coach.
0:09.0	Every week, Sam Smith breaks down high-yield MCAT topics, ensuring you're primed for success on test day.
0:15.0	Join Sam as we explore the most crucial subjects outlined by the AAMC, pulled from official practice materials and third-party resources.
0:23.3	Get ready to elevate your MCAT game with topics tailored to maximize your score potential.
0:29.9	Hello, I'm Sam Smith.
0:32.7	This podcast covers Electrochemistry. I'm going to first start by giving a little bit of an introduction to electrochemistry, talk about some basic definitions, talk about the three different types of
0:42.6	electrochemical cells to know. Then I'll get it into thermodynamics. I'll talk a little bit about
0:46.8	Gibbs free energy. I'll talk about the NERTS equation. And then lastly, I'll talk about a few
0:51.7	applications of electrochemistry. The first being electroplating.
0:56.5	I'll talk a bit about batteries.
0:58.2	And then I'll talk briefly about some of the applications to the human body.
1:04.7	And this material is going to show up in one of the four sections.
1:07.9	That's going to be the chem-fiz section.
1:10.2	And it is pretty important
1:11.5	material. I think this is fairly high yield. So with that said, I hope this helps you in your
1:15.4	studies. And good luck as you prepare for the MCAT.
1:24.2	So in general, electrochemistry is the study of reactions that cause electrons to move.
1:31.0	We have talked pretty extensively about one of these types of reactions, and that's going to be a redox reaction, my reduction oxidation reaction.
1:39.2	In terms of the MCAT, you're most likely to see electrochemistry in the context of an electrochemical cell.
1:46.7	And so the first thing I want to do here is kind of introduce you to a few of the different
1:50.0	types of electrochemical cells, three in particular that you're most likely to see.
	...

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