Characteristics of Electrolysis

The word electrolysis is a combination of Greek words, electron and lysis, and was first introduced by Michael Faraday in the 19th century. Electrolysis has been used as a tool to study chemical reactions and obtain pure elements much before the term was coined.

Electrolysis is a technique in which a direct current (DC) is passed through an ionic substance (that is either molten or dissolved in a suitable solvent) in order to produce chemical reactions at the electrodes and separate materials. The main components required to achieve electrolysis are an electrolyte, a direct current and electrodes.

In this lesson, you will be learning about the process of electrolysis in detail.

A few important things we will learn:

Electrolytic Cell | Electrolysis | Electrolytes | Strong Electrolytes | Weak Electrolytes | Non-Electrolytes | Cations | Anion | Oxidation | Reduction

Factors Influencing Selective Discharge of Ions

Position of the ions in the electrochemical series

Concentration of the ions in a solution

Nature of the electrode

Applications of Electrolysis

What if you found a rusted steel object or a rusted vintage artefact at home and wanted to clean it? Well you can use the process of electrolysis to clean it by using materials found at home: a plastic bucket, tap water, rebar, washing soda, baling wire and a battery charger.

Since the process of electrolysis separates non-metallic particles from the metallic ones, this process is used in cleaning metallic objects, from old coins, artefacts, rusted parts of automobile engines.