Study of electrolysis

A dropping electrolyte electrode (fig. 9.3) was also developed for the study of electrolysis at ITIES. When the density of the organic phase is greater than that of the aqueous phase (for example, as with nitrobenzene), the aqueous drops move upwards. 

DAVY, SIR HUMPHRY (1778-1829). Bom in Cornwell. Davy was the first to isolate ihe alkali metals and recognize the identity of chemical and electrical energy. A pioneer in Ihe science of electrochemistry, he carried out basic studies of electrolysis of sails anti waicr, and his application of electricity lo the decomposition of molten caustic potash led to the isolation of metallic potassium. 

The two solutions surrounding the terminals must be either in contact or connected by a solution of an electrolyte. Examples of suitable arrangements may be found in preceding discussions and in those that follow. The function of the electrolyte between the two terminals is exactly the same as that discussed in connection with the study of electrolysis, namely, the maintenance of electrical neutrality in the region of the electrodes. This is accomplished by the transport of ions through the solution. 

Physical chemistry, in the hands of the ionists, looked above all at questions of equilibrium and yield, using chemical thermodynamics. But physical chemistry, as the ionists were well aware, was more than the study of equilibrium and yield, and more too than the study of electrolysis. Chemical kinetics, the study of reaction rates, of the speed with which reactions take place, also has an important and early place in the history of physical chemistry. And, just as electrochemistry began well before the clear assertion of the discipline of physical chemistry, so too did chemical kinetics. 

In 1832-1833, Michael Faraday s studies of electrolysis led to this conclusion. 

During the period 1831 through 1855 Faraday published a number of series of articles, Experimental Researches in Electricity, in the Philosophical TransaC tions of the Royal Society. Partington notes that the major studies of electrolysis and the galvanic cell appeared between 1833 and 1840. The most important discovery of these was the electrochemical equivalent ... 

Based on his studies of electrolysis, Berzelius in 1803 reported the following... 

The study of electrolysis can be completed by assigning the students a project on recycling. 

A hundred years ago results from physics and physical chemistry had already influenced the conceptual status of inorganic chemistry. In the present context, it may be noted, in particular, how the experimental study of electrolysis processes had led to the concepts of cations, anions, and electrochemical equivalents. An important conclusion from these studies was, for example, that the monovalency of silver and the divalency of copper in their normal salts were more than just stoichiometric attributes. This conclusion, based upon integers, gives rise to the most important class of statements in chemistry, which we would like to call qualitative in a strong sense. We shall see further examples of this kind of statement below in connection with oxidation states, atomic electron configurations, and ground state specitications. 

A number of other methods (chronopotentiometry [24], polarography with dropping electrolyte electrode [25], faradaic impedance measurement [26], current scan voltammetry [27] etc.) were also applied to the study of electrolysis at ITIES. 

Faraday, an assistant to Humphry Davy and often called "Davy s greatest discovery," made many contributions to both physics and chemistry, including systematic studies of electrolysis. 

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