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Chemistry Forums for Students => Undergraduate General Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: Corvettaholic on April 13, 2004, 05:27:14 PM

Title: What exactly is electrolysis?
Post by: Corvettaholic on April 13, 2004, 05:27:14 PM

I remember my old chemisry teacher stuck two electrodes in water, and somehow managed to extract (seperately) oxygen and hydrogen. This is electrolysis right? How exactly does it work, and what can I apply it to as far as synthesizing stuff? My technical know how is about as far as balancing equations and electrical type stuff. Relatively new to this whole chemistry thing  :)

With electrolysis, could I somehow get pure oxygen gas from water? How would I need to set up the electrodes and containers for that to work? I need a small quantity of pure O2 for a little science project I'm working on.

Title: Re:What exactly is electrolysis?
Post by: Scratch- on April 22, 2004, 11:59:28 AM

I don’t know the exact details of the reaction but what electrolysis does is breaks apart some chemical bonds. For example water and sodium chloride will form H₂O + NaCl ==> H₂ + NaOH + O₂ + Cl. Don’t pay attention to the fact that I’m too lazy to balance my equation. You’ll want to filter your water because small amounts of compounds like sodium chloride in the water will contaminate your oxygen.

Title: Re:What exactly is electrolysis?
Post by: Donaldson Tan on April 27, 2004, 08:08:14 AM

http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=64

You may make reference to the abovementione link.

Title: Re:What exactly is electrolysis?
Post by: chemicalLindsay on May 30, 2004, 07:05:32 AM

Electrolysis ,in a general form,is basically the splitting of an electrolyte(a liquid or aqueos solution that conducts electricity due to the presence of ions whether they be dissociated or not) by an electric current (amperage).If you look in any books about this you will often get meanings like this.