Chemistry Tutorial: Electrochemistry: Faraday's Laws of Electrolysis

Topics in Chem Tutorial: Basic Concepts, Chemical Bonding, Thermodynamics Terms, Zeroth Law, First Law, Entropy and Second Law, Electrochemistry, Basics of Organic Chemistry

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Electrolysis , Faraday's Laws of Electrolysis , Electrochemical or Galvanic or Voltaic cells

Faraday's Laws of Electrolysis

Faraday's First Law of Electrolysis
The mass of a substance deposited or liberated at any electrode is directly proportional to quantity of electric current passed.

If W grams of a substance is deposited or liberated on passing Q Coulomb of charge then :

W Q

and W = Z x Q

where Z is the proportionality constant and is called the Electrochemical Equivalent

Faraday's Second Law of Electrolysis
When the same amount of charge is made to pass through any number of electrolytes, the mass of the substance liberated or deposited at the electrodes are directly proportional to their chemical equivalents.

Chemical equivalent = atomic mass / valence

m₁/m₂ = E₁/E₂

where m₁ and m₂ are the respective masses liberated or deposited on the electrodes
and E₁ and E₂ are the chemical equivalents of the substances liberated or deposited.