What happens at the electrodes during electrolysis and how much product forms, by Faraday's laws. Then primary and secondary batteries, fuel cells and the corrosion of iron.
3 lessons, about 1 h 40 min3 simulations11 problems6 practice questionsPython in every lesson
Created by StemPy LabA silver spoon, a chromium tap and a block of pure copper all come out of an electrolytic cell. A battery forces a reaction that would not run by itself. At each electrode the species with the better chance of reacting is discharged first, and water often competes with the ions. This lesson shows how to decide what forms at the cathode and at the anode.
How much silver goes onto a spoon in ten minutes? Michael Faraday found that the answer depends only on the charge that passes. One mole of electrons carries , and each ion needs a fixed number of electrons. So the mass of a product follows from , and the masses of different products from the same charge are in the ratio of .
A torch cell is thrown away when it is flat. A car battery is recharged thousands of times. Both are galvanic cells, but in the second the reaction can be reversed by a current from outside. This lesson looks at the dry cell, the mercury cell, the lead storage battery and the fuel cell. It then shows how rusting is a cell in disguise and how it can be stopped.
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