Abstract
In the field of electrochemistry there has been a vast amount of work done in determining the standard potentials of various systems. The importance of calculating these standard potentials can clearly be seen since they are of use in obtaining equilibrium constants and activity coefficients of solutes. The standard potential may be defined as the emf of an electrode or cell when all ions of the system are at unit activity. |Although standard potentials have been calculated for many mercury systems, data concerning the standard potential for the mercuric-mercurous system in the . presence of chloride ion could not be obtained from available literature. The object of this study then is to determine this standard potential. This is attempted by determining the electrode potentials of mercuric chloride and potassium chloride solutions of varying concentrations measured against the saturated calomel electrode. In accordance with universal usage this standard potential is determined in terms of the molality scale has the distinct advantage of being independent of temperature