Principle of Electrolysis of Copper Sulfate Electrolyte | Electrical4u https://www.electrical4u.com/principle-of-electrolysis-of-copper-sulfa...

Principle of Electrolysis of Copper Sulfate Electrolyte

Previous Next

Electrolysis
Electrolysis is an electrochemical process by which current passes from one electrode
to another in an ionized solution that is an electrolyte. In this process, positive ions or
cations come to the negative electrode or cathode and negative ions or anions come to
the positive electrode or anode.
Before understanding the principle of electrolysis, we should know what is electrolyte
or definition of electrolyte

Definition of Electrolyte
An electrolyte is such a chemical whose atoms are tightly bonded together, by ionic bonds
but when we dissolve it in water, its molecules split up into positive, and negative ions.
The positively charged ions are referred as cations whereas negatively charged ions are
referred as anions. Both cations and anions move freely in the solution.

Principle of Electrolysis
In ionic bonds, one atom loses its valence electrons and another atom gains electrons. As
a result, one atom becomes positively charged ion and another atom becomes a negative
ion. Due to opposite charge both attract each other and form a bonding between them
called the ionic bond. In ionic bond, the force acting between the ions is Coulombic force
which is inversely proportional to the permittivity of the medium. The relative permittivity
of water is 80 at 20oC. So, when any ionic bonded chemical is dissolved in water, the
bonding strength between ions becomes much weaker and hence its molecules split into
cations and anions moving freely in the solution.

1 of 5 7/30/17, 11:34 AM
Principle of Electrolysis of Copper Sulfate Electrolyte | Electrical4u https://www.electrical4u.com/principle-of-electrolysis-of-copper-sulfa...

tial difference applied between the rods externally by a battery.

These partly immersed rods are technically referred as electrodes. The electrode con-
nected with negative terminal of the battery is known as cathode and the electrode con-
nected with positive terminal of the battery is known as anode.
The freely moving positively charged cations are attracted by cathode and negatively
charged anions are attracted by anode. In cathode, the positive cations take electrons
from negative cathode and in anode, negative anions give electrons to the positive anode.
For continually taking and giving electrons in cathode and anode respectively, there must
be flow of electrons in the external circuit of the electrolytic. That means, current contin-
ues to circulate around the closed loop created by battery, electrolytic and electrodes.
This is the most basic principle of electrolysis.

Electrolysis of Copper Sulfate

Whenever copper sulfate or CuSO4 is added to water, it gets dissolved in the water. As
the CuSO4 is an electrolyte, it splits into Cu+ + (cation) and SO4 (anion) ions and
move freely in the solution.

Now we will immerse two copper electrodes in that solution.

2 of 5 7/30/17, 11:34 AM
Principle of Electrolysis of Copper Sulfate Electrolyte | Electrical4u https://www.electrical4u.com/principle-of-electrolysis-of-copper-sulfa...

The Cu+ + ions (cation) will be attracted towards cathode i.e. the electrode connected to
the negative terminal of the battery. On reaching on the cathode, each Cu+ + ion will
take electrons from it and becomes neutral copper atoms.

Similarly the SO4 (anion) ions will be attracted by anode i.e. the electrode connected
to the positive terminal of the battery. So SO4 ions will move towards anode where
they give up two electrons and become SO4 radical.

But since SO4 radical can not exist in the electrical neutral state, it will attack copper an-
ode and will form copper sulfate.

In the above process, after taking electrons the neutral copper atoms get deposited on
the cathode. At the same time, SO4 reacts with copper anode and becomes CuSO4 but in
water it can not exist as single molecules instead of that CuSO4 will split into Cu+ +, SO4

and dissolve in water. So it can be concluded that, during electrolysis of copper sul-

3 of 5 7/30/17, 11:34 AM
Principle of Electrolysis of Copper Sulfate Electrolyte | Electrical4u https://www.electrical4u.com/principle-of-electrolysis-of-copper-sulfa...

is removed from anode.
If during electrolysis of copper sulfate, we use carbon electrode instead of copper or
other metal electrodes, then electrolysis reactions will be little bit different. Actually SO4
can not react with carbon and in this case the SO4 will react with water of the solution
and will form sulfuric acid and liberate oxygen.

The process described above is known as electrolysis.

Video Presentation of Basic Principle of Electrolysis

Previous Next

Comments/Feedbacks

4 of 5 7/30/17, 11:34 AM
Principle of Electrolysis of Copper Sulfate Electrolyte | Electrical4u https://www.electrical4u.com/principle-of-electrolysis-of-copper-sulfa...

Closely Related Articles

Ionization Process and Definition
Applications of Electrolysis Electroplating Electroforming Electrorefining
More Related Articles
Battery | History and Working Principle of Batteries
Alkaline Batteries
Voltaic Cell
Charging of Battery and Discharging of Battery
Construction of Zinc Carbon Battery | Leclanche Cell
Nickel Iron Batteries or Edison Batteries
Aluminum Air Battery | Experiment Reaction Equations Uses
Zinc Carbon Battery |Types of Zinc Carbon Battery | Advantages and Disadvantages
Mercuric Oxide Battery | Chemistry Construction Advantages Uses
Magnesium Battery | Chemistry Construction of Magnesium Battery
Working of Lead Acid Battery | Lead Acid Secondary Storage Battery
Construction of Lead Acid Battery
Maintenance of Lead Acid Battery
New Articles
Principle of Water Content Test of Insulating Oil
Collecting Oil Sample from Oil Immersed Electrical Equipment
Causes of Insulating Oil Deterioration
Acidity Test of Transformer Insulating Oil
Magnetic Flux

2011-2017 electrical4u.The content is copyrighted to electrical4u and may not be reproduced on other
websites.

5 of 5 7/30/17, 11:34 AM