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Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: Usman on May 25, 2019, 05:53:23 AM

Title: Got this question on electrolysis involving charge on ion with calculation
Post by: Usman on May 25, 2019, 05:53:23 AM

Question:

During electrolysis 0.02 moles moles of metal X is deposited on cathode when 0.12 moles of e- are passed through molten chloride of X. What is the formula of the chloride?

I have tried solving it and my answer is XCl6 which is incorrect. The correct answer given is XCl3. In the explanation the book says that 0.06 moles of e- have flown to cathode and goes on to divide the no. of moles of e- at cathode by no. of moles metal X (0.06/0.02) so it's 3 which means 1 atom of X gains 3 e-'s, giving X +3 charge. What I do not get is what about the other 0.06 mole of e-'s. Isn't metal X supposed to gain all of the 0.12 mole of e-'s ? Shouldn't cathode have the total 0.12 mole of e-'s?



Your answers and explanations will help me a lot, thanks.

Title: Re: Got this question on electrolysis involving charge on ion with calculation
Post by: Borek on May 25, 2019, 08:48:31 AM

XCl₆ looks OK to me.