Electrolysis

In [|chemistry] and [|manufacturing] , **electrolysis ** is a method of using a [|direct] [|electric current] (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially highly important as a stage in the [|separation] of [|elements] from naturally occurring sources such as [|ores] using an [|electrolytic cell] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">The key process of electrolysis is the interchange of atoms and ions by the removal or addition of electrons from the external circuit. The required products of electrolysis are in some different physical state from the electrolyte and can be removed by some physical processes. For example, in the electrolysis of [|brine] to produce hydrogen and chlorine, the products are gaseous. These gaseous products bubble from the electrolyte and are collected. [|[2]] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">2 NaCl + 2 H2O → 2 NaOH + H2 + Cl2 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">A liquid containing mobile ions (electrolyte) is produced by <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">An electrical potential is applied across a pair of [|electrodes] immersed in the electrolyte. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Each electrode attracts ions that are of the opposite [|charge]. Positively charged ions ( [|cations] ) move towards the electron-providing (negative) cathode, whereas negatively charged ions ( [|anions] ) move towards the positive anode. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">At the electrodes, [|electrons] are absorbed or released by the atoms and ions. Those atoms that gain or lose electrons to become charged ions pass into the electrolyte. Those ions that gain or lose electrons to become uncharged atoms separate from the electrolyte. The formation of uncharged atoms from ions is called discharging. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">The energy required to cause the ions to migrate to the electrodes, and the energy to cause the change in ionic state, is provided by the external source of electrical potential.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"> [|Solvation] or reaction of an [|ionic compound] with a [|solvent] (such as water) to produce mobile ions
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">An ionic compound is melted (//fused//) by heating

There are many industrial uses for the process of electrolysis. It produces many chemicals that we use all the time. It is also used in the production of oxygen in submarines and space ships. If the process is reversed then you get a working battery.

**The History of Electrolysis**

 * 1875**

The first person to use electrolysis for hair removal was Dr. Charles E. Michel (1833 - 1913), a St. Louis, Missouri ophthalmologist (eye doctor) who, in 1875, reported the results of his use of electrolysis in trichiasis (ingrown eyelashes) (St. Louis Clinical Record, October, 1875, 2:145-148). He had been performing electrolysis since 1869.

Dr. W.A. Hardaway, a St. Louis, Missouri dermatologist, gave the credit for the first use of electrolysis to Dr. Michel (Transactions of the American Dermatological Association, 1878, 4:337-340.) In this paper, Dr. Hardaway described his own results and those of others; an indication that numerous other physicians were also performing electrolysis.


 * 1880 - 1900**

The use of electrolysis became well known in the latter part of the nineteenth century. During this time, Dan Mahler established an electrolysis practice, and subsequently, an electrolysis equipment firm. The family business exists today as the Instantron Company, which has been operating continuously for over a century and is one of the world's largest suppliers to the electrolysis profession.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">1) The quantity of elements separated by passing an electric current through a molten or dissolved salt is proportional to the quantity of electric charge pased through the circuit. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">2) T he mass of the resulting separated elements is directly proportional to the atomic masses of the elements when an appropriate integral divisor is applied
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Faraday's Laws of electrolysis **