Faradays Law of Electrolysis Calculator

Determine the exact mass of a chemical substance deposited or liberated at an electrode during the process of electrolysis.

Current (I)

Time (t)

Molar Mass (M)

g/mol

Valency (z)

Mass Deposited

5.9279 g

Moles of Product0.0933 mol

Total Charge Transferred (Q)18,000 C

Moles of Electrons (n)0.1866 mol e⁻

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Turning Electricity into Matter

Electrolysis is the process of using an external source of electricity to force a non-spontaneous chemical reaction to occur. This is how we electroplate jewelry with gold, how we purify aluminum from bauxite ore, and how we split water into hydrogen fuel.

Faraday's Law of Electrolysis allows engineers to calculate exactly how much physical mass of a metal will be deposited onto an electrode based on how much electricity they pump into the system.

The Chemistry of Current

Electrical current (measured in Amperes) is simply a flow rate. One Ampere equals exactly one Coulomb of electrical charge flowing past a point every second. If we know the current and how long we leave the machine turned on, we know the total charge (Coulombs).

By dividing the total Coulombs by Faraday's Constant (96,485 C/mol), we can literally count exactly how many moles of electrons we forced into the chemical bath.

The Equation

\begin{aligned} n_{product} = \frac{I \cdot t}{z \cdot F} \end{aligned}

Where:

n_{product}

Moles of Metal Deposited

Current (Amperes)

Time (Seconds)

Valency (Electrons per ion)

Faraday's Constant (96,485 C/mol)

To find the final mass, you simply multiply the moles of product by the molar mass of the metal on the periodic table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Valency ( $z$ ) is the number of electrons required to reduce one single ion of the metal. For example, Silver ions ( $Ag^+$ ) only require 1 electron to become solid silver, so $z=1$ . Copper ions ( $Cu^{2+}$ ) require 2 electrons, so $z=2$ .

Because Copper ( $Cu^{2+}$ ) requires two electrons per atom, while Silver ( $Ag^+$ ) only requires one. If you pump the exact same amount of electricity into both, you will produce exactly half as many moles of Copper as you would Silver.

Yes! If you are splitting water into Oxygen and Hydrogen gas, you use this exact formula to find the moles of gas produced. You can then use the Ideal Gas Law to convert those moles into liters of gas.

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