Faraday's laws of electrolysis
Leyes de la electrólisis de Faraday
- Date
- 1833-1834 · confidence high
- Place
- Royal Institution, London
- Credited to
- Michael Faraday
- People
- 👤 Michael Faraday1791–1867
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
The mass deposited at an electrode is proportional to the charge passed and the chemical equivalent of the substance. Faraday coins ion, anode, cathode, electrolyte and establishes the quantitative relationship between electricity and matter.
Davy had already isolated metals by electrolysis in 1807; Faraday provided the laws.
What it led to
- Quantitative electrochemistry
- Idea of an elementary electric charge (the electron)
- Electroplating and the electrolytic industry
Built on
- Electrolysis of water (Nicholson and Carlisle)1800
- Volta's pile
- Davy's electrolysis
Made possible
- Daniell cell1836
- Electroplating and electrotyping1838-1840
- Electrolytic dissociation theory and Arrhenius acid-base definition1884-1887
- The electron1897
- electrorefining of metals
- electrolytic production of aluminium and chlor-alkali