Chemical

Effect of
Current
 Electricity
Electricity can be defined as a kind of energy formed by moving
charges.
The flow of charges in a conductor is defined as electricity.
Metals are considered a good conductor of electricity due to the flow
of electric charges in them.
Electric Current
It can be defined as the flow of electrons. An electric current
can produce chemical, heating and magnetic effects.

Electric current can not flow on the conductor on its own. An

electric circuit, which is a closed-loop path made up of
electric components like wire, battery, switch, bulb etc. is
needed for current to flow in a wire or conductor.
Conductors and Insulators
Based on the conductivity, substances are divided into
two
Conductors
Substances that allows electric current to pass through
them are called conductors.
For example – Metals like gold, silver and copper etc are
some examples of good conductors.
Insulators –
Substances that do not allow an electric current to pass
through them are called insulators.
An insulator is a bad conductor.
For example – rubber, wood, plastic, glass etc. are bad
conductors of electricity.
Do liquids conduct electricity?
Yes, most liquids can conduct electricity because they
have free electrons or ions that carry the electricity
through the liquid. Solutions of acids, bases and salts in
water conduct electricity and hence are called
electrolytes. For example- Lemon juice, sodium hydroxide
and Tap water, Milk, Vinegar.
Whereas distilled water doesn’t conduct electricity as it
doesn’t contain salts hence distilled water is a bad
conductor of electricity. Oil, petrol and kerosene are poor
conductors of electricity as they do not have free
electrons or ions to conduct electricity.
 Copper sulphate, common salt also conduct electricity.
1. In solids, electricity is carried by electrons but in liquid, electricity is carried
by ions (positively charged and negatively charged ions). In solid like copper
metal, electricity is carried by electrons but in a liquid like copper sulphate
solution, electricity is carried by copper ions and sulphate ion.
2. When electricity is passed through a solid, then no chemical change take
place but when electricity is passed through a liquid, then a chemical change
take place.
For example: When electricity is passed through a copper wire, no chemical
change take place in it but when electricity is passed through acidified water,
then a chemical change take place in which water is decomposed into hydrogen
and oxygen gas.
Test for Conduction of Liquid
Take a small beaker. Fix two iron nails on a rubber cork about 1 cm apart
and place this cork in the beaker.
The two iron nails will act as the two electrodes.
Connect the two nails to the two terminals of a battery by including a torch
bulb and switch in the circuit.
Pour a solution of dilute hydrochloric acid in the beaker carefully. Now
pass electric current through the hydrochloric acid solution by closing the
switch.
We will observe that as soon as we switch on the current, the bulb starts
glowing.
The bulb can glow only if the hydrochloric acid solution taken in the beaker
conducts electricity. So the glowing of bulb this case tells us that
hydrochloric acid solution conducts electricity.
Let us now take sugar solution in the
beaker and switch on the electric
current by closing the switch.
We will observe that the bulb does not
glow. This shows that sugar solution
does not conduct electricity.
Sugar solution is not a conducting
liquid. Repeat this activity by taking
glucose solution, distilled water,
alcohol solution, milk, vegetable oil
and honey in the beaker. Bulb does
not glow at all. They are not
conducting liquids.
Detection of Weak Current Flowing through Liquid
When an electric current flows through a bulb then due to the heating
effect of current, the filament of bulb gets heated to a high temperature,
becomes white hot and glows to produce light.
When the current flowing through a circuit is large, the heating effect is
large due to which the bulb glows brightly.
When the current flowing through the circuit is small, the heating effect is
also small, due to which the bulb glows dimly. If the current flowing
through the circuit is too weak, then the heating effect produced by
current in the filament is too little, due to which the filament does not get
heated sufficiently and hence the bulb does not glow at all.
A torch bulb cannot be used to detect weak electric current flowing
through a liquid in the circuit.
 Heating Effect of Electric Current
Heat is produced when an electric current flows through a conductor.
This is referred to as the heating effect of electric current.
The glowing of the bulb is caused by the heating effect of the current
flowing through it.
To determine if a substance conducts or not by the
heating effect:
When current is passed through the bulb, the filament (tungsten) heats up
to a high temperature, causing the bulb to glow.
However, if the current is extremely small, the filament will not be heated
to a high temperature and will thus not glow as a result of this.
 The weak electric current flowing through liquids can
be detected in two ways:
1. By using a LED that is light emitting diode
2. By using a compass.

LED bulbs are more suitable for testing the electrical

conductivity of liquids. Why?
As the LED bulbs can detect the flow of even a small amount of electric
current. The electric current causes a heating effect due to which the filament
of the bulb gets heated up and glows. Some liquids are capable of conducting
electricity but they are weak conductors of electricity and the current that
passes through them are not that strong enough to heat up the filament. But
the use of LED bulbs overcome this situation.
Distilled, Tap, Sea and Rain Water
If we take some distilled water in a beaker
and pass electricity through it, we will find
that there is no deflection in the magnetic
needle of compass. This shows that
distilled water does not conduct
electricity. Dissolve a pinch of common
salt in distilled water. When salt is
dissolved in distilled water we get salt
solution. By passing current through it, we
will find that the magnetic needle of
compass shows deflection. Thus, distilled
water becomes a good conductor of
electricity on dissolving a little of salt in it.
 Distilled water is a poor conductor of
electricity because it does not contain Sodium chloride in water
any dissolved salts in it. Distilled water is
pure water and it does not conduct
electricity. We can make distilled water
or pure water to conduct electricity in
the following ways:
1. We can dissolve some common salt in
distilled water or pure water to make it a
good conductor of electricity.
2. We can add a little of acid in distilled
water or pure water to make it a good
conductor of electricity.
3. We can add a little of base in distilled
water.
 The water of taps, hand pumps, Wells and Ponds contains small amount
of several salts which are naturally present in it and therefore conduct
electricity.
1. We should never operate an electric switch or touch any working
electrical appliances with wet hands because the tap water present on
wet hands is a conductor of electricity due to which it may conduct
electric current from the electric switch to our hand and give us an
electric shock.
2. We should never handle an electrical appliance while standing
barefooted on the wet floor.
Sea water contains a large amount of dissolved salts in it. Therefore the
electrical conductivity of seawater is much more than that of drinking
water. The deflection of magnetic needle of a compass is much more in
the case of sea water than in the case of drinking water because due to
the presence of a large amount of dissolved salts in it.
When rain water falls to the earth through the atmosphere, it dissolves
an acidic gas carbon dioxide from the air and forms a weak acid called
carbonic acid. The gases such as Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide
also form sulphuric acid and nitric acid. Due to the presence of small
amount of acids in it rain water becomes a conductor of electricity .
Chemical Effects of Electric Current
The chemical effects of electric current can be defined as the passage of
an electric current through a conducting solution or an electrolyte that
causes chemical changes.
This is because of chemical reactions that take place when an electric
current passes through a solution.
The chemical changes which take place in conducting liquids on passing
electric current through them are called chemical effects of electric
current.

Applications of Chemical Effect Of Electric Current

Extraction of metals from their ores.
Purification of metals
Production of compounds.
Decomposition of compound
Electrolyte
A liquid which can conduct electricity is called an electrolyte.
A conducting liquid is called electrolyte. Copper sulphate solution conducts
electricity, therefore copper sulphate solution is an electrolyte. A conducting
liquid or electrolyte contain ions that is positively charged and negatively
charged ions.
The flow of these ions conduct electricity through the conducting liquid or
electrolyte.
The solution of acids, bases and salts in water are electrolytes.

Electrolytes are of two types

(1) Strong electrolytes
(2) Weak electrolyte
strong electrolyte
A strong electrolyte is a liquid or solution which conducts electricity very well
because it contains a lot of ions in it.
For example : Sulphuric acid solution, hydrochloric acid solution, nitric acid
solution, sodium hydroxide solution, potassium hydroxide solution, common salt
solution, copper sulphate solution, silver nitrate solution etc.

Week electrolyte
A weak electrolyte is a liquid or solution which conduct electricity to a lesser
extent because it contains less number of ions.
For Example: lemon juice, carbonic acid solution, ammonium chloride solution,
tap water, rain water etc.
Electrodes
A solid electrical conductor through which an electric current enters or
leaves something like a dry cell or an electrolytic cell, is called an
electrode.
Electrode are of two types

Anode
The electrodes which is connected to the positive terminal of the battery
gets positively charged. The positively charged electrode is called anode.

Cathode
The electrode which is connected to the negative negative terminal of the
battery gets negatively charged. The negatively charged electrode is called
cathode.
Electrolytic Cell
An arrangement having two
electrodes kept in a conducting
liquid or electrolyte in a vessel is
called an electrolytic cell.
For example: If we keep 2 carbon
electrodes in a beaker containing
acidified water, it will be an
electrolytic cell. An electrolytic
cell is used for carrying out
chemical reactions by passing an
electric current through the
conducting liquid.
 Battery
A battery is used to pass an electric current through the electrolyte taken in
the electrolytic cell during the study of chemical effects of electric current.
Electrolysis
The production or occurrence of chemical change in an electrolyte when
an electric current is passed through it. The process of electrolysis shows
the following things Depending on the nature of the solution and the
electrode.

Release of gas bubbles on the electrodes

When current is conducted through water, oxygen and hydrogen bubbles
are created.
On the positive electrode, oxygen bubbles will be present, whereas
hydrogen bubbles will be present on the negative electrode.
Chemical reaction takes place when an electric current passes through a
conducting solution.
As a result, gas bubbles could form on the electrodes.
1. Deposits of metal on electrodes.
2. Change of colour of solution depending upon the electrodes.
Applications of electrolysis
1. Electroplating
2. Purification of metals
3. Extraction of metals from metallic ores.

Electroplating or Electro-deposition
The process by which a layer of metal is deposited over another metal by the
passage of electric current. The kind of metal that is usually electroplated are
gold, silver, tin, zinc, copper, chromium.
Reason for electroplating
Electroplating is a very useful process and widely used in industry.
Electroplating is a technique for depositing a layer of metal with desired
properties on another metal that is utilized in various industries. The main
reason is as follows
1. To protect the metal object by coating different metal on the metal object.
2. Cost-efficient for example since chromium is a costly metal, the objects are
made of a cheaper metal and a chromium coating is applied for a shiny
appearance.
3. Prevent metal from corrosion.
Applications of electroplating
Jewellery makers electroplate silver and gold on less expensive metals.
Medical equipment is made up of nickel which is harmful to the human body
hence to avoid it from coming in contact with the body a coating of platinum
or gold is applied on the surface of the nickel.
Tin cans used to store food are made of iron coated with zinc. As zinc is less
reactive than iron.
Thus, the food is prevented from coming in contact with iron and getting
spoilt.
Iron is used in bridges and automobiles to provide strength. However, iron
tends to corrode and rust. So, a coating of zinc is deposited on iron to protect
it from corrosion and the formation of rust.
Because of its shiny appearance, chromium plating is used for vehicle parts
and bath fittings.
 Galvanization – Coating of zinc is deposited on iron to protect it from
corrosion.
Bridges and various parts of automobiles are made up of iron and are coated
with zinc in order to prevent rust (Galvanization)because it provides
strength.

How electroplating can be done?

Electroplating is based on the chemical effects of electricity. Electroplating
helps to prevent rusting.
To get the coating of a different metal the following is the process
1. Two electrodes should be made of different metals.
2. The metal on which coating is to be done should be used as a cathode while
the metal to be deposited should be made the anode.
3. The electrolyte should be a solution of the metal to be coated.
 For example - The coating of zinc over a copper object, the copper object is
used as a cathode and a zinc plate as an anode and zinc sulphate as the
electrolyte.
The container or vessel consisting of the cathode, anode and electrolyte is
called an electrolytic cell.

How a layer of one metal can be deposited on top of

another?
When an electric current is passed through the copper sulphate solution,
copper sulphate dissociates into copper and sulphate. The free copper gets
drawn to the electrode connected to the negative terminal (cathode)of the
battery and gets deposited on it.
The process of electroplating takes some
time to complete. The time taken by the
process depends upon the strength of
the current and also on the
concentration of the electrolyte. These
two helps to increase the speed of
electroplating. We should make sure that
the electrode should be clean. The
electrodes used are made up of different
materials. One of the electrodes is of the
same metal of which the electrolyte
solution is. The second electrode needs
to be the material on which coating takes
place.
Effects of electroplating
Electroplating results in the production of harmful chemicals. The disposal of
these chemicals is a big concern.