Electrochemical cells & electroplating
Electroplating is a valuable industrial process thatallows metals to be plated onto other materials usingan electrical current. In this activity, an electrolytic cellis used to electrolyze a solution of copper(II) sulfate.A voltage source is connected to two copper strips,and the strips are placed into the solution of copperions. The energy from the voltage source will causea redox reaction to occur within the cell. At oneelectrode, copper(II) ions will be reduced to elementalcopper, and at the other electrode, elemental copperwill be oxidized to form copper(II) ions. By measuringthe initial and final masses of the two electrodes, theamount of copper oxidized (and reduced) during theexperiment can be calculated. This data, together withinformation about the amount of current that passedthrough the cell, will be used to calculate values forAvogadro’s number and the Faraday constant. Includesmaterials for 15 setups.
Chemical Contents:
Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate
Copper Metal Strips
Sulfuric Acid Solution