. faraday’s laws.

The discoveries of Michael faraday in 1833, known as faraday’s laws, established the
electrical and chemical relations that exist in all electrolytic or electrochemical reaction. These two laws
are :

- law 1. The quantity of any element or group of elements liberated at either the anode of cathode
during electrolysis is proportional to the quantity of electricity passing through the solution.

- law 2. Equal quantities of electricity liberated equivalent quantities of ions, or, the amounts of ionic
substances liberated by a given quantity of electricity are proportional to their equivalent weights.

The first law establishes the fact that there is a numerical relation between the chemical action and the
total quantity of electricity passing through the electrolyte. According to faraday’s results, 1 ampere
flowing for 96,494 second (about 26,8 hours) liberates 1.008 gr of hydrogen and 35.437 gr of chlorine
from an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride. Such results indicate that 96.494 coulombs of electricity
liberate one equivalent weight of the positive and negative ions. Hence, 96.494, or approximately
96,500, coulombs, called a faraday, is associated with the charge on one equivalent of an ionic
substance. In other words, 1 faraday, or 96,500 coulombs, is equal to 1 electrochemical equivalent. The
second law establishes the fact that electrochemical equivalents are the same as ordinary chemical
equivalents. In other words, the units of chemical reactions are identical with the units of electrolysis.