Note 586 — Chapter XV · OXIDATION AND REDUCTION. II. OXIDATION BY OXYGEN, PERMANGANATES, ETC.; OXIDATION OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
Reading edition
The oxidation occurs essentially in the same manner as described (p, 292) for the action of formaldehyde on ammoniacal silver solution, when they are brought together in a single vessel. In the present case, where the action is used to produce an electric current, there is a migration of negative ions into the formalin solution through the salt-bridge (p. 254). For every two silver ions discharged on the electrode in the silver nitrate solution, two hydroxide ions are liberated in the formaldehyde solution, as a result of this migration, and they combine with the oxidized carbon atom. The oxidation may be expressed, then, simply as follows:
(NaO)HC± + 2 ⊕ + 2 HO− → (NaO)HC2+ + 2 HO− → (NaO)HC:O + H2O.
By comparison with the equations given on p. 292, it is evident, that the only difference lies in the fact that the positive charges, in the present case, are carried to the formaldehyde salt through metal wires and a metal electrode, while previously they were discharged directly by silver ions on the formaldehyde salt.