Question

The reaction at the anode in the electrochemical cell is:
 \[\text{Zn}\left( \text{s} \right)\text{/ZnC}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}\left( \text{aq} \right)\left\| \text{C}{{\text{l}}^{\text{-}}}\left( \text{aq} \right) \right\|\text{C}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}\left( \text{g} \right)\text{/C}\left( \text{s} \right)\]
A.\[\text{Zn}\to \text{Z}{{\text{n}}^{\text{+2}}}\text{+2e}\]
B.\[\text{Z}{{\text{n}}^{\text{+2}}}\text{+2e}\to \text{Zn}\]
C.$\text{C}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}\text{+ 2e}\to 2\text{C}{{\text{l}}^{-}}$
D.$2\text{C}{{\text{l}}^{-}}\to \text{C}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}\text{+ 2e}$
E.\[\text{Zn + C}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}\to \text{ZnC}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}\]

Answer 1

Hint: An electrochemical cell is the one that is able to convert electrical energy into chemical energy. There are two electrodes in an electrochemical cell, one is the anode and the other the cathode.

Complete Step by step Solution:
The anode of the electrochemical cell is the electrode at which the oxidation, or the elements give up the electrons here. While the reduction occurs at the cathode, where the elements take up the electrons from the electrode. The order of oxidation and reduction is dependent upon the position of the element in the electrochemical series. The higher an element is placed in the electrochemical series, the higher are its chances to get oxidized. These positions of the elements are dependent upon their position in the periodic table.
In the electrochemical series, zinc is placed higher than chlorine in the electrochemical series because zinc is a metal and chlorine is a non-metal, hence the reaction at the anode is the first one.

So, the correct answer is option A.

Notes: Generally, the non-metals get reduced by accepting electrons from the cathode, while the metals give up their electrons at the anode to get oxidized at the anode.
The elements of group 1, group 2, etc. have a strong tendency to give up electrons or undergo oxidation and hence they appear higher in the series while elements at the end of a period are more electronegative in nature and hence have a tendency to accept electrons or undergo reduction.