DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, (JOKA) SOUTH KOLKATA

Subject: Chemistry Class: VIII

Chapter : Chemical effect of electric current
Prepared by-Madhusree Barick

TOPICS DISCUSSED
1. Conductors

2. Conductivity in liquids

3. Heating effect of current

4. Chemical Effects of Electric Current

5. Applications of chemical effects of electric current

This chapter deals with a process called “Electrolysis” which establishes a

relationship between electrical energy and chemical change.

The word electrolysis is made up of two words ‘electro’ meaning flow of

electrons or electricity and ‘lysis’ meaning separating i.e., bringing about a
chemical change in a substance by passage of electricity.

Many substances allow electricity to pass through them and many do not. It
has also been found that all the substances allowing passage of electricity do
not undergo chemical change.

Good Conductors of Electricity:

The materials which allow the current to pass through them are known
as good conductors. Examples are copper, aluminium, etc.

Poor Conductors of Electricity:

The materials which do not allow the current to pass through them, are
known as poor conductors. They are also called as insulator. Examples
are glass, plastic, etc.
 Electrolysis: The passage of electric current through a chemical
compound causing the decomposition of the compound is called
electrolysis. During electrolysis,
 Positively charged ions move towards the cathode and negatively
charged ions move towards the anode.
 The number of electrons lost at the anode are equal to the
number of electrons gained by the cathode.
 In general, electro positive elements like metals and hydrogen
free their ions at the cathode and electronegative non-metals will
free their ions at the anode.
 The amount of electricity passed through an electrode is directly
proportional to the mass of substance deposited at that
electrode. This is called Faraday's first law of electrolysis.

 Electrolytes: Compounds which undergo ionization and conduct

electricity in the molten or dissolved state are called electrolytes
 Strong Electrolytes: Strong electrolytes are substances that exist as
ions in solution. Ionic compounds are typically strong electrolytes.
Strong acids(Hydrogen chloride), strong bases(Sodium hydroxide) and
salts(molten or aqueous Sodium chloride) are strong electrolytes.
 When solid NaCl is placed in water, it completely dissociates to
form 𝑁𝑎 + and 𝐶𝑙 −ions.
 NaCl(s) ⟶ 𝑁𝑎 + (aq)+ 𝐶𝑙 − (aq)
 Weak Electrolytes: A weak electrolyte dissociates partially in a
solution and produces relatively few ions. Polar covalent compounds
are weak electrolytes. Weak acids (Carbonic acids) and weak
bases(Ammonium hydroxide) are weak electrolytes. They contain both
molecules and ions in the solution.
 CH3COOH ⟶ 𝐶𝐻3𝐶𝑂𝑂− + 𝐻 +
 Non-Electrolytes: A non-electrolyte does not dissociate at all in a
solution and therefore does not produce any ions. Non electrolytes are
typically polar covalent substances that dissolve in water as
molecules.
 Sugar (𝐶12𝐻22𝑂11) is a non-electrolyte.
 Other examples include distilled water, alcohol, benzene and
urea.
  𝐶12𝐻22𝑂11 (s)⟶ 𝐶12𝐻22𝑂11(aq)
 Cations: Number of protons is more than number of electrons.
Cations have a net positive charge and move to the cathode (negative
electrode) during electrolysis.
 Anions: Number of electrons is more than the number of protons.
Anions have net negative charge and move towards anode (positive
electrode) during electrolysis.
 Oxidation: Addition of Oxygen atom and removal of Hydrogen atom or
loss of electrons.
 Reduction: Addition of hydrogen atom and removal of oxygen, gain of
electrons.
 ZnO + C ⟶ Zn + CO (Zn reduced, C oxidised)
 Electrolytic cell (voltameter): A non-conducting vessel containing two
electrodes immersed in a solution of electrolytes used to bring about a
chemical reaction. Electrolytic cells require an outside source of
electricity (DC source) to initiate the movement of ions between two
electrodes where the chemical change takes place .It converts electrical
energy to chemical energy.

Fig: A simple electrolytic cell or voltameter

Electrochemical cell: It is a device used to convert chemical energy in to
electrical energy
Examples: Simple voltaic cell, Daniel cell ,etc.
Electrodes: Two metal plates or wires or graphite rods or gas carbon rods
immersed in the electrolyte through which the current enters and leaves the
electrolytic cell are called electrodes .
Anode: The electrode connected to the positive terminal of the battery is
called anode
 Cathode: The electrode connected to the negative terminal of the battery is
called cathode.
Electric Current:
The flow of electrons in any material is termed as an electric current.

Flow of Electrons in the Matter

Tester:
It is a device to test if a particular material allows electric current to pass
through it or not.

Tester

Conductivity in Liquids:
(i) A tester can be used to check if a liquid is conducting or non-conducting.
(ii) To check if the liquid is conducting or not, connect the liquid between the
two ends of tester by completing the connection of the circuit properly. If bulb
in the tester glows, it means the liquid is conducting. But, if does not glow then
it means liquid is non-conducting.
 Testing conduction of electricity in liquid
(iii) Most liquids that conduct electricity are solutions of acids, bases and salts.

Heating effect of current:

The heating effect of current is responsible for the glowing of the bulb.

To test whether substance is conducting or not using heating effect:

When current passes through the bulb, the filament gets heated to a high
temperature and as a result bulb starts glowing. But, if current is very small
then the filament will not get heated to a high temperature and so will not
glow.

Heating Effect of Electric Current for Glowing Bulb

LED (Light Emitting Diodes) :
LED’s can be used to detect weak currents, since; their filament does not
require much temperature to glow.
They have two terminals called anode and cathode. The length of anode lead is
slightly longer than the cathode lead and is always connected to the positive
terminal of the battery. On the hand, cathode lead is shorter and is connected
to the negative terminal of the battery.
 LED
 

Magnetic effect of current:

The magnetic effect of current is responsible for the deflection in magnetic
compass when current passes nearby it. It can detect weak currents.

To test whether substance is conducting or not using magnetic effect:

For a closed circuit, when current passes nearby a magnetic needle and if the
deflection is observed in the needle then it means the substance is conducting;
otherwise it is non-conducting.

Magnetic Compass
Tester By using Magnetic Compass:
(i) Take the tray from inside a blank matchbox.
(ii) Wrap an electric wire a few times around the tray.
(iii) Insert a small compass needle inside it.
(iv)Now connect one free end of the wire to the terminal of a battery. Leave the
other end free.
(v) Take another piece of wire and connect it to the other terminal of the battery
 Tester by using the magnetic compass
Join the free ends of two wires momentarily. The compass needle should show
deflection. Your tester with two free ends of the wire is ready.
Touch the both ends of tester to any substance to check whether the substance
is conducting the electricity or not. If the deflection is observed in the needle
then it means the substance is conducting; otherwise it is non-conducting.

Tap Water:
The water obtained from various sources like rivers, wells, taps, etc. is not in
its purest form. It contains many impurities in it. These impurities include
different salts too. As a result of these salts, the tap water becomes a good
conductor of electricity.

Distilled Water:
It is the purest form of water and does not contain any kind of impurities in it.
Hence, it is a poor conductor of electricity.
We can check the conductivity of tap water or distill water via the magnetic
tester. 

Chemical Effects of Electric Current:

There can be various chemical effects observed on passing electric current

depending on the type of solution and electrodes:

1. Formation of Gas Bubbles:

A British Chemist named William Nicholson performed an experiment showing
that if current is passed through water, then, bubbles of oxygen and hydrogen
were produced. The oxygen bubbles will be present on positive electrode and
hydrogen bubbles on the negative electrode. The passage of an electric current
through a conducting solution causes chemical reactions. As a result, bubbles
of a gas may be formed on the electrodes

William Nicholson Passing current through water

2. Deposits of metal may be visible on the electrodes.
3. The color of solution might change.

Applications of chemical effects of electric current:

 The chemical effect of electric current is used in industries (or factories) for the
following purposes:
(i) Electroplating metals
(ii) Purification of metals
(iii) Production of certain metals from the ores
(iv)Production of chemical compound
(v) Decomposing chemical compounds

Electroplating
 Electroplating is a process in which layer of metal is deposited on another
material with the help of electricity.
 Electroplating is used in many industries for depositing a layer of metal with
desired characteristics on another metal.
 Different metals used for electroplating are Nickel, Copper, Gold Silver, Tin,
Brass, Zinc, Chromium and Platinum.
 Process of electroplating
 In order to conduct electroplating right electrodes and electrolytes must be
chosen so that metal can deposit over a material.
 For instance, if we want to deposit copper on a material we need an
electrolyte that contains copper in it. Similarly, if we need gold on a material
we need an electrolyte that contains gold in it.
 Also, we should make sure that the electrode that we are choosing is
completely clean.
 The electrodes used are made up of different materials. One of the electrodes
is of the same metal of which the electrolyte solution is. The second electrode
needs to be the material on which we want to coat another metal.
For electroplating an iron object with copper metal :
1)The iron object is made negative electrode that is cathode.This means that
the iron object is connected to the negative terminal of the battery.
2)A copper plate is made positive electrode that is anode. This means that a
copper plate is connected to the positive terminal of the battery.
3) Copper sulphate solution is taken as electrolyte

Take 250 ml of distilled water in a clean beaker dissolved to tablespoons of

copper sulphate in it. This will give us a blue coloured copper sulphate
solution. Add a few drops of dilute sulphuric acid to copper sulphate solution
to make it more conducting. Take a copper plate of about 10 cm * 4 cm size
and a door key made of iron. Clean the surface of copper plate and iron key by
rubbing with Sandpaper. Then wash them with water and dry them.

1) Immerse the cleaned copper plate in the copper sulphate solution in the
beaker. Connect the copper plates to the positive terminal of a battery through
a switch. This copper plate becomes the positive electrode or anode.

2) Immerse the clean iron key also in copper sulphate solution at a small
distance from the copper plate. Connect the negative terminal of the battery to
the iron key. This iron key becomes the negative electrode.

3) Switch on the electric current by closing the switch. Allows the current to
pass for about 15 minutes.

4) Remove the copper plate and iron key from the copper sulphate solution and
look at them carefully. We will find that the copper plate has dissolved a little
and the iron key has got a reddish layer of copper metal all over its
surface.Thus the iron key has been electroplated with copper.

The copper sulphate solution has copper metal in the dissolved form.The
copper sulphate solution consists of free positively charged copper ions and
negatively charged sulphate ions. when electric current is passed through
copper sulphate solution ,then the following changes takes place :

1) The dissolved copper metal present in the copper sulphate solution as

positively charged copper ions gets attracted to the negatively charged electrode
iron key. The positively charged copper ions lose their positive charge on
coming in contact with the negatively charged Iron key and from copper atoms.
These copper atoms deposit on the iron key to form a thin layer of copper metal
all over the surface of iron key.In this way, copper metal in the electrolyte
comes out of the solution and forms a thin layer on the iron key.
2) The copper metal of positively charged copper plate electrode dissolves by
forming positively charged copper ions.The copper ions thus formed go into the
copper sulphate solution. In this way the loss of copper ions from copper
sulphate solution is made up and the process continues. Since the copper ions
are taken out from the solution at the negative electrode but put into solution
at the positive electrode therefore the concentration of copper sulphate solution
remains constant.

Figure 7 Electroplated Objects

 Medical equipment is made up of nickel which is harmful to the human body
hence to avoid it from coming in contact with our body a coating of platinum
or gold is applied on the surface of nickel.
 Many kitchen equipments, bath taps, parts of cars etc. are covered with
chromium coating. Chromium is an expensive metal hence the objects are
created with the cheaper metal and chromium coating is provided. Thus, to
bring a shining over the objects and prevent them from corrosion chromium
coating is used.
 Jewellery makers often make ornaments of less expensive metals and
provide a coating of gold or silver upon them.
 The tin cans that are used to store food are actually made up of iron and
have a coating of tin on them. Iron can easily react with food and spoil it,
however, tin prevents the food from getting reacted with iron and therefore
helps in preventing it from getting spoiled easily.
 Bridges and various parts of automobiles are made up of iron because it
provides strength. However in order to prevent iron from getting rusted a
coating of zinc is provided over it. This method is also called galvanization of
iron.
Other applications of Chemical Effect of Electric Current
1. Extracting metals from their ores
Pure metals are extracted from metal ores with the process of electrolysis.
Electricity is passed through the metal ores and they get broken down into an
ionic lattice and thus the metal is obtained separately. For example, metals like
aluminium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium are obtained from
their ores in this way.

Figure Extraction of Aluminium

2. Purification of metals
The method of electrolysis is also used to purify a metal by separating it from
the impurities. The impure metal is used as an anode which first dissolves in
the electrolyte solution and then deposits on the cathode in the pure form. The
impurities of the metal remain in the electrolyte solution only. Metals like
aluminium, zinc and copper are purified in this way.
 Figure : Purification of Copper using Electroplating
3. Production of compounds
The electrolysis method is used for the production of some compounds. For
example, sodium hydroxide is produced by the electrolysis of an aqueous
solution of sodium chloride.
4. Decomposition of compounds
The electrolysis method is also used to decompose a compound into its
constituents. For example, water can be decomposed using the process of
electrolysis to obtain hydrogen and oxygen.
 Figure : Decomposing water to separate hydrogen and oxygen

REFERENCES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWJsvcF9cAQ