Physics chemical effects of electric current

Short type Questions with their Answers

Q.1: What are conductors?

Ans: Substances which allow the electric current to pass through them are called conductors.

Q.2: What are insulators?

Ans: Substances which does not allow electric current to pass through them are called insulators.

Q.3: Are liquids conductors of electricity?

Ans: Yes, some liquids are conductors of electricity e.g., lemon juice, vinegar, tap water etc.

Q.4: What are the metal rods dipped in liquids to which cells are attached called?

Ans: Electrodes.

Q.5: When we pass current through a conducting solution of water, which gas bubbles will
appear near positively charged electrodes?

Ans: Oxygen.

Q.6: Name any chemical effect of electric current.

Ans: Electroplating.

Q.7: To which terminal of the battery the metal meant for electroplating is attached?

Ans: Negative terminal.

Q.8: In which direction does current flow?

Ans: From negative to positive terminal.

Q.9: Which gas will accumulate near negative electrode when electric current is passed through a
conducting solution of water?

Ans: Hydrogen.

Long type Questions with their Answers

Q.1: What is LED, why is it the most preferable source of electricity?

Ans: The full form of LED is Light Emitting Diode. It is like a bulb which can glow even at a
feeble current supply. Ordinary bulbs can not glow when the current supply is low. So they
consume more current and are therefore, costly. Since LED consumes much lower electricity so,
they are economical.

LEDs are available in many colours such as, red, green, yellow, blue etc. They find applications
for many purposes like in traffic signals, on railway platforms for various indicators etc.

Q.2: How can you prove conducting properties of substances when the current is very small and
bulb does not glow?

Ans: When current passing through a conductor is very small, the bulb won’t glow. In such cases
we use magnetic compass to detect conduction of current.

Q.3: What is ‘Electroplating’? Describe.

Ans: Electroplating is the process of coating a desired metal on another metal surface using
electric current. It is one of the most common applications of chemical
 effects of electrical current. Metallic plate and
the substance requiring coating are dipped in conducting solution with conducting wires. The
object to be coated is attached to the negative terminal. When electric current is passed through
the solution, the compounds of the solution starts breaking and free metallic particles get
deposited on the object at the negative terminal of battery. In this way we can get a coating of
desired metal on any object by preparing suitable conducting solution and using suitable
electrodes.

Q.4: Give some advantages of electroplating.

Ans: Electroplating is a very useful process and has many advantages:

1. It is used to coat metal surfaces with another metal having desired properties.

2. It saves certain metal surfaces from rusting, corrosion etc.

3. Coating of chromium on other metals give luster to objects and better corrosion resistance.

4. Cheap metals like iron, aluminium etc. can be coated with costly metals like silver, gold etc. to
give them rich look as in case of artificial jewellary.

5. With the help of this process we can reactive metals like iron etc. less reactive after electroplating
them with tin, zinc etc. to make them more useful for certain purposes.