Faraday’s Law of Electrolysis FAQs

What is Electrolysis?

Electrolysis is a chemical process in which an electric current is used to stimulate a non-spontaneous chemical reaction which typically results in deposition or liberation of substances at the electrodes.

What is meant by 1 Faraday?

One Faraday or Faraday’s constant is the amount of charge required to deposit or liberate one equivalent weight of a substance during an electrolysis process. Its value is approximately taken as 96500 coulombs.

What is meant by the term ‘equivalent weight’ in Faraday’s second law of electrolysis?

Equivalent weight of a substance implies the weight of a substance that liberates one mole of electrons during a chemical reaction in electrolysis.

What are the applications of Faraday’s law of electrolysis?

Faraday’s law of electrolysis are used in various practical applications where electrolysis is carried out for some commercial purpose such as electroplating, electrolytic refining and electrochemical machining, etc.

What is an Electrolytic Cell?

Electrolytic cell is an electrochemical cell in undergoes reaction when electric current is passed through it.

What is an Electrode?

An electrode is a conducting to that conducts electric current to the solutions. All the oxidation and reduction occur at electrodes.

Faraday’s Law of Electrolysis proposed by Michael Faraday deals with the quantitative analysis of Electrolysis. It relates the mass deposited at any electrode and the amount of charge passed through them. Electrolysis is a process in which an electric current stimulates a non-spontaneous chemical reaction. In this process, metal electrodes are dipped in an electrolytic solution and a flow of ions is created through the passage of current by connecting wires to the electrodes. This flow of ions causes a chemical reaction that results in mass deposition at one electrode and the dissolution of the other. The mass deposited at the electrode depends on the amount of charge passed through the solution. Faraday’s law of electrolysis provides a basis for mathematical analysis of the mass deposited at electrodes and the amount of charge passed through them.

In this article, we will discuss two laws of electrolysis given by Faraday, their application, and limitations, solve numerical problems based on them, and FAQs related to them.