English bookbinder who became

interested in electricity.
He obtained an assistantship in
Davy's lab, then began to conduct his
own experiments. He formulated the
second law of electrolysis: "the
amounts of bodies which are
equivalent to each other in their
ordinary chemical action have equal
quantities of electricity naturally
associated with them."

Faraday’s Laws
1. mQ The mass of the metal produced at the
cathode is proportional to the quantity of electricity
passed through the cell. NB: Q=It where Q is the
charge in coulombs, I=current in amps and t=time
in seconds

2. In order to produce one mole of a metal, one,

two or three or another whole number of moles of
electrons must be consumed.
1 faraday = 96500 coulomb /mol
Q=n(e) x F or Q = n(e) x 96500
FARADAY’S FIRST LAW
CURRENT TIME (s) QUANTITY MASS OF
(A) OF COPPER (g)
ELECTRICITY
(C)
3.0 600 1800 0.59
3.0 1200 3600 1.19
3.0 1800 5400 1.78
3.0 2400 7200 2.38
Mass of Copper Deposited (g)

Quantity of electricity (coulombs)

The straight line graph produced when the quantity

of electricity is plotted against the mass of copper
deposited, shows that the mass produced is
proportional to the quantity of electricity used
(where Q=It).

NB: Q can’t be measured directly. The current is

measured (using an ammeter) and is multiplied by
the time to give the Electric Charge (Q). A current
of 1A means that 1 coulomb of charge flows every
second (6.24x1018 electrons = 1 coulomb of charge)
If the charge of one electron
-19
is 1.602x10 C what will
be the charge on one mole
of electrons?

FARADAY’S SECOND LAW

In order to produce one mole of a substance by electrolysis, one,
two, three or another whole number of mole of electrons
(faraday’s) must be consumed according to the relevant half-cell
equation.

Eg Sodium: Na+(aq) + e  Na(s)

1 faraday must be passed to produce 1 mole of sodium atoms

(23g)

Eg Calcium: Ca2+(aq) + 2e  Ca(s)

2 faradays must be passed to produce 1 mole of calcium atoms

(40.08g)

Eg Aluminium: Al3+ (aq) + 3e  Al(s)

3 faradays must be passed to produce 1 mole of aluminium

(27g)

i.e. n(electrons) = Q/F = Q/96500 mole

a) How many Faradays are needed to produce one mole of

copper?

b) How many Faradays are needed to produce 5g of

aluminium?

c) If there is 3.15 moles of copper, how many mole of

electrons is required and what will be the charge?
Q What is the amount of time required to produce 200kg of
magnesium metal by electrolysis of magnesium chloride
using a current of 45.0A?

Q If a current of 0.2A is applied for 1447 seconds to

chromium chloride using chromium electrodes and an
increase in the mass of the cathode of 0.052g is measured
a) How many coulombs of electricity has been used?
b) How many moles of electrons are transferred?
c) How many moles of chromium is liberated?
d) What is the charge on the chromium ion?