Past exam of the chemistry course of the year 3 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / Paper 4 / 51 / a / ii

The midpoint potential $E_m$ characterizes the redox couple under specified solution conditions: it is the potential at which oxidized and reduced forms have equal activities, or equal concentrations in the corresponding formal-potential convention. For a reversible cyclic voltammogram it is estimated by $(E_{pa}+E_{pc})/2$. It approximates the formal redox potential when the usual reversibility and diffusion assumptions apply; it is not the potential halfway along a scan chosen arbitrarily.