Applications of Chemical Effects of Electric Current

The circuit of the tester is complete when the liquid between the two ends of the tester permits the electric current to pass. The bulb lights when current flows across the circuit. The circuit of the tester is not complete and the bulb does not glow when the liquid does not allow the electric current to flow.

Despite the fact that a material can carry electricity, It may not be able to carry electricity like a metal. The tester’s circuit may be complete, the fact that the current flowing through it may be too weak to light the bulb. In that case, the effect of an electric current is considered to create a different type of tester. Regardless of whether the current is small, it is possible to observe a magnetic needle deflection. A tester is made by using the magnetic effect of current.

Electroplating: Women are frequently seen wearing jewelry that looks to be made of gold. The gold covering, however, fades off with time, revealing silver or another metal beneath. Metal has a covering of another metal in this case.

Electroplating is the process of depositing a layer of any desired metal on another material using electricity. It’s one of the most frequent uses of electric current’s chemical effects.

Let us understand the process of Electroplating with an example: 

• Copper sulfate dissociates into copper and sulfate when an electric current is passed through the solution. 
• The free copper gets drawn to the electrode linked to the battery’s negative terminal and gets deposited on it. 
• An equivalent amount of copper is dissolved in the solution from the other electrode. 
• As a result, copper is lost from the solution. The process is still in progress as the loss of copper from the solution is restored. 
• This means that copper gets transferred from one electrode to the other.

The procedure of electroplating is really beneficial. In industry, it’s commonly used to coat metal things with a thin layer of a different metal. The layer of metal deposited has some desired property, which the metal of the object doesn’t have. For example, chromium plating is done on many objects such as automobile parts, bath taps, kitchen gas burners, bicycle handlebars, wheel rims as well as numerous others. It has a shiny appearance, does not corrode, and resists scratches.

Applications of Electroplating

• To prevent corrosion and rust, zinc is applied to the iron.
• Silver and gold plating for jewelry.
• Tin is less reactive than iron, it is used to coat tin onto iron for cans.

Chemical reactions occur when an electric current flows through a conducting material. This chemical action of electric current is termed the Chemical Effect of Electric Current. For example, Hydrogen and oxygen separate from water when an electrical current is applied to it. Over the negative pole, hydrogen is deposited, and over the positive pole, oxygen is. Bubbles are evidence of hydrogen and oxygen deposition at various poles. Some liquids are good conductors and some are poor conductors of electricity. But, most of the liquids that conduct electricity are the solutions of acids, bases, and salts. Let’s understand the concepts of the Chemical Effects of Electric Current in this article!