Electrolysis 

In chemistry, the production of chemical changes by passing an 

electric current through a solution or molten salt (the electrolyte), 
resulting in the migration of ions to the electrodes: positive ions 
(cations) to the negative electrode (cathode) and negative ions 
(anions) to the positive electrode (anode). 

During electrolysis, the ions react with the electrode, either 

receiving or giving up electrons. The resultant atoms may be liberated 
as a gas, or deposited as a solid on the electrode, in amounts that 
are proportional to the amount of current passed, as discovered by 
English chemist Michael Faraday. For instance, when acidified water is 
electrolysed, hydrogen ions (H+) at the cathode receive electrons to 
form hydrogen gas; hydroxide ions (OH-) at the anode give up electrons 
to form oxygen gas and water. 

One application of electrolysis is electroplating, in which a solution 

of a salt, such as silver nitrate (AgNO3), is used and the object to 
be plated acts as the negative electrode, thus attracting silver ions 
(Ag+). Electrolysis is used in many industrial processes, such as 
coating metals for vehicles and ships, and refining bauxite into 
aluminium; it also forms the basis of a number of electrochemical 
analytical techniques, such as polarography. 

Faraday's laws 
============== 

Three laws of electromagnetic induction, and two laws of electrolysis, 

all proposed originally by English scientist Michael Faraday: 

Induction (1) a changing magnetic field induces an electromagnetic 

force 

In a conductor; (2) the electromagnetic force is proportional to the 

rate of change of the field; (3) the direction of the induced 
electromagnetic force depends on the orientation of the field. 

Electrolysis (1) the amount of chemical change during electrolysis is 

proportional to the charge passing through the liquid; (2) the amount 
of chemical change produced in a substance by a given amount of 
electricity is proportional to the electrochemical equivalent of that 
substance. 

Faraday's constant 
================== 

Constant (symbol F) representing the electric charge carried on one 

mole of electrons. It is found by multiplying Avocado's constant by 
the charge carried on a single electron, and is equal to 9.648 x 104 
coulombs per mole. 

One faraday is this constant used as a unit. The constant is used to 
calculate the 

Electric charge needed to discharge a particular quantity of ions 

during 

Electrolysis. 

Faraday, Michael (1791-1867) 

English chemist and physicist. In 1821, he began experimenting with 

electromagnetism, and discovered the induction of electric currents 
and made the first dynamo, the first electric motor, and the first 
transformer. Faraday isolated benzene from gas oils and produced the 
basic laws of electrolysis in 1834.He also pointed out that the energy 
of a magnet is in the field around it and not in the magnet itself, 
extending this basic conception of field theory to electrical and 
gravitational systems. 

Chemistry and the discovery of benzene Faraday was mainly interested 

in chemistry during his early years at the Royal Institution. He 
investigated the effects of including precious metals in steel in 
1818, producing high quality alloys that later stimulated the 
production of special high-grade steels. In 1823, Faraday produced 
liquid chlorine by heating crystals of chlorine hydrate in an inverted 
U- tube, one limb of which was heated and the other placed in a 
freezing mixture. After the production of liquid carbon dioxide in 
1835, he used this coolant to liquefy other gases. In the same year, 
Faraday isolated benzene from gas oils and demonstrated the use of 
platinum as a catalyst. He also demonstrated the importance in 
chemical reactions of surfaces and 

Inhibitors, foreshadowing a huge area of the modern chemical industry. 

Laws of electrolysis 
==================== 

Faraday's laws of electrolysis established the link between 

electricity and chemical affinity, one of the most fundamental 
concepts in science. Electrolysis is the production of chemical 
changes by passing an electric current through a solution. It 

Was Faraday who coined the terms anode, cathode, cation, anion, 
electrode, and electrolyte. He postulated that, during the 
electrolysis of an aqueous electrolyte, positively- charged cations 
move towards the negatively-charged cathode and 

negatively-charged anions migrate to the positively charged anode. 

Faraday demonstrated that the ions are discharged at each electrode 
according to the following rules: 

(a) The quantity of a substance produced is proportional to the amount 

of electricity passed; 

(b) The relative quantities of different substances produced by the 

same amount of electricity are proportional to their equivalent 
weights (that is, the relative atomic mass divided by the oxidation 
state or valency). 

Electromagnetism and the electric motor in 1821, only one year after 
Hans Oersted had discovered with a compass needle that a current of 
electricity flowing through a wire produces a magnetic field, Faraday 
was asked to investigate the phenomenon of electromagnetism by the 
editor of the Philosophical Magazine. Faraday conceived that circular 
lines of magnetic force reproduced around the wire to explain the 
orientation of Oersted's compass needle. Faraday's conviction that an 
electric current gives rise to lines of magnetic force arose from his 
idea that electricity was a form of vibration and not a moving fluid. 
He believed that electricity was a state of varying strain in the 
molecules of the wire conductor, and that this gave rise to a similar 
strain in the medium surrounding the conductor. It was reasonable to 
consider therefore that the transmitted strain might set up a similar 
strain in the molecules of another nearby conductor. 

Faraday set about devising an apparatus that would demonstrate the 

conversion of electrical energy into motive force. His device 
consisted of two vessels of mercury connected to a battery. Above the 
vessels and connected to each other were 

Suspended a magnet and a wire, which were free to move and dipped just 
below the surface of the mercury. In the mercury were fixed a wire and 
a magnet respectively. When the current was switched on, it flowed 
through both the fixed and free wires, 

generating a magnetic field in them. This caused the free magnet to 
revolve around the fixed wire, and the free wire to revolve around the 
fixed magnet. 

The experiment demonstrated the basic principles governing the 

electric motor. Although the practical motors that subsequently 
developed had a very different form to Faraday's apparatus, he is 
usually credited with the invention of the electric motor. 

Electromagnetic induction and the transformer Faraday hunted for the 

effect of 

Electromagnetic induction from 1824 onwards, expecting to find that a 

magnetic field would induce a steady electric current in a conductor. 
Faraday eventually succeeded in producing induction in 1831. He wound 
two coils around an iron bar and connected one to a battery and the 
other to a galvanometer (an instrument for detecting small electric 
currents by their magnetic effect). Nothing happened when the current 
flowed through the first coil, but Faraday noticed that the 
galvanometer responded whenever 

the current was switched on or off. Faraday found an immediate 

explanation with his lines of force. If the lines of force were cut - 
that is, if the magnetic field changed - then an electric current 
would be induced in a conductor placed within the magnetic 

field. The iron bar helped to concentrate the magnetic field, as 
Faraday later came to understand, and a current was induced in the 
second coil by the magnetic field momentarily set up as current 
entered or left the first coil. With this device, Faraday had 
discovered the transformer, a modern transformer being no different in 
essence even though the alternating current required had not then been 
discovered. 

Faraday is thus also credited with the simultaneous discovery of 

electromagnetic induction, although Joseph Henry had made the same 
discovery in the same way in 1830. However, busy teaching, Henry had 
not been able to publish his findings before Faraday did, although 
both men are now credited with the independent discovery of induction. 

Arago's wheel and the electric generator in 1824, Francois Arago found 
that a rotating non-magnetic disc, specifically of copper, caused the 
deflection of a magnetic needle placed above it. This was in fact a 
demonstration of electromagnetic induction, but nobody at that time 
could explain `Arago's wheel´. Faraday realized that the motion of the 
copper wheel relative to the magnet in Arago's experiment caused an 
electric current to flow in the disc, which in turn set up a magnetic 
field and deflected the magnet. He set about constructing a similar 
device in which the current produced could be led off, and built the 
first electric generator in 1831. It consisted of a copper disc that 
was rotated between the poles of a magnet; Faraday touched wires to 
the edge and centre of the disc and connected them to a galvanometer, 
which registered a steady current. 
Electrostatic charge In 1832 Faraday showed that an electrostatic 
charge gives rise to the same effects as current electricity. He 
demonstrated in 1837 that electrostatic force consists of a field of 
curved lines of force, and that different substances have specific 
inductive capacities - that is, they take up different amounts of 
electric charge when subjected to an electric field. 

In 1838, he proposed a theory of electricity elaborating his idea of 

varying strain in molecules. In a good conductor, a rapid build-up and 
breakdown of strain took place, transferring energy quickly from one 
molecule to the next. This also accounted for the decomposition of 
compounds in electrolysis. At the same time, Faraday wrongly rejected 
the notion that electricity involved the movement of any kind of 
electrical fluid (the motion of electrons is involved). However, in 
that this motion causes a rapid transfer of electrical energy through 
a conductor, 

Faraday's ideas were valid. 

Polarization of light 
===================== 

Finally, Faraday considered the nature of light and in 1846 arrived at 
a form of the electromagnetic theory of light that was later developed 
by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. In 1845, Lord Kelvin 
suggested that Faraday investigate the action of electricity on 
polarized light. Faraday had in fact already carried out such 
experiments with no success, but this could have been because 
electrical forces were not strong. Faraday now used an electromagnet 
to give a strong magnetic field instead and found that it causes the 
plane of polarization to rotate, the angle of rotation being 
proportional to the strength of the magnetic field. 

Paramagnetic and Diamagnetism 

============================= 

Several further discoveries resulted from this experiment. Faraday 

realized that the glass block used to transmit the beam of light must 
also transmit the magnetic field, and he noticed that the glass tended 
to set itself at right-angles to the poles of the magnet rather than 
lining up with it as an iron bar would. He showed that the differing 
responses of substances to a magnetic field depended on the 
distribution of the lines of force through them. He called materials 
that are attracted to a magnetic field paramagnetic, and those that 
are repulsed diamagnetic. Faraday then went on to point out that the 
energy of a magnet is in the field around it and not in the magnet 
itself, and he extended this basic conception of field theory to 
electrical and gravitational systems. 

Faraday was born in Newington, Surrey, and was apprenticed to a 

bookbinder; he was largely self- educated. In 1812, he began 
researches into electricity, and made his first electrical cell. He 
became a laboratory assistant to Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution 
in 1813, and in 1833 succeeded him as professor of chemistry. Faraday 

delivered highly popular lectures at the Royal Institution 1825-62. He 

refused to take part in the preparation of poison gas for use in the 
Crimean War. 

Aim: I shall conduct an experiment, which will see how much copper is 
deposited during the electrolysis of copper sulphate. Copper Sulphate 
is the electrolyte of this experiment. Electrodes are materials 
connected to the negative terminal of the negative terminal of the 
battery and is called Cathode the electrode connected to the positive 
terminal of the battery is Anode. Many factors will effect this 
experiment time, as there is a limited time to conduct this experiment 
due to class period. 

· Time 

· Current 

· Concentration Of Solution 

· Temperature 

· Distance Between Electrodes 

· Quantity Of Solution 

· Size Of Electrodes 

Predictions: I think that if you put more current you should get more 
copper deposited as the current passes quicker thought the circuit. 
You can calculate how much copper will be deposited at the cathode by 
using the following equation: 

Q=I*T 

Where Q=Amount of charge (electrons) in coulombs 

I=Current in amps 

T=Time in seconds 
I think during electrolysis, copper ions are will be attracted towards 
the positive anode. Copper atoms which make up the anode each will 
give up two electrons to form CU2+ ions. The overall result I think 
will be that the anode loses weight as the cathode gains weight. 

Below are some of my predicted results which I complied from my 

preliminary experiments. 

Predicted Results 

Voltage 

Current 

Time 

Cathode before 

Cathode after 

Anode before 

Anode after 

Cathode difference 

Anode difference 

4.5 

1.00 

10min 

1.5 

1.16 

1.8 

1.6 

0.11+ 

-0.2 

4.5 
1.23 

20min 

1.6 

2.0 

1.7 

1.4 

0.4+ 

-0.3 

4.5 

1.30 

30min 

1.9 

2.1 

1.4 

1.1 

0.2+ 

-0.3 

4.5 

1.70 

35min 

2.1 

2.5 

1.4 

1.2 

0.4+ 
-0.2 

6 

1.00 

10min 

1.9 

2.0 

1.7 

1.6 

0.1+ 

-0.1 

6 

1.11 

20min 

1.9 

2.1 

1.8 

1.4 

0.2+ 

-0.4 

6 

1.19 

30min 

1.9 

2.3 
1.9 

1.4 

0.5+ 

-0.5 

6 

0.83 

35min 

1.5 

1.6 

2.4 

2.2 

0.1+ 

-0.2 

[IMAGE] 

[IMAGE] 

Equipment: 

* Two Copper Electrodes[Anode(+)Cathode(-)] 

* Beaker 

* Voltmeter 

* Ammeter 

* Copper Sulphate Solution 

* Battery Power Pack 

* Splints 

* Crocodile Clips 

* Circuit Wires 
Method: I first with my friend's we gathered all necessary equipment 
for this experiment we got Two Copper Electrodes, A Beaker ,Voltmeter, 
Ammeter, Copper Sulphate Solution, Battery Power Pack and some 
Splints. 

I set the equipment as shown in the diagram below. I got a beaker and 
poured 500ml of Copper Sulphate Solution. The Copper Electrodes were 
then placed into the solution and then were held against the beaker 
with splints. I connected up the wires to the battery pack then to the 
ammeter and to the electrodes at the wire that's going towards the 
electrodes we added Crocodile Clips and then clipped it on to the 
Copper Electrodes. We then used two different voltages 4.5 and 6 we 
used the two different voltages with different times. They were 10min, 
20min, 30min, 35 min we used these times on both the different 
voltages. We stopped them at these times to record the difference in 
weight at the beginning of the experiment. At this time we turned of 
the current and weighted the Electrodes. We looked at the solution, 
current, the weight of the copper electrodes; we looked at all of 
these at the end of each experiment. During the experiment we noticed 
that the current fluctuated and that there was the impure Copper left 
at the bottom of the beaker as Sludge. 

[IMAGE] 

Voltage 

Current 

Time 

Cathode Before 

Cathode After 

Anode After 

Anode After 

Cathode Difference 

Anode Difference