Which condition did you change?
Labs / Chemistry
Electrolysis
Wire a battery to two electrodes dipped in an electrolyte and force a reaction that would never happen on its own. Positive ions crowd toward the negative cathode and negative ions toward the anode, where they gain or lose electrons — and the readouts count the gas volume or metal mass exactly as Faraday's laws predict.
Labs / Chemistry / Electrolysis
Electrolysis
Wire a battery to two electrodes dipped in an electrolyte and force a reaction that would never happen on its own. Positive ions crowd toward the negative cathode and negative ions toward the anode, where they gain or lose electrons — and the readouts count the gas volume or metal mass exactly as Faraday's laws predict.
Why it matters
Why explore this?
Chemistry connects events too small to see with changes we can measure. This model helps you link particles, energy, and conditions to an observable result.
Explore
Try the model
t 0 sQ 0 Ccathode —anode —
Investigate
Questions to test
Predict first, try it in the model, then use what you observe to answer.
What to try
- Turn the voltage down slowly. Why does everything stop at a certain point, even though the current dial hasn't moved?
- In the water cell, count the bubbles at each electrode. Why does the cathode make roughly twice as much gas as the anode?
- Double the current. Does the metal plate out twice as fast, and does the charge Q climb at twice the rate?
- Switch to copper sulfate. Where does the dissolved copper go, and what builds up on the cathode over time?
- For the same charge Q, which electrolyte deposits more mass or releases more gas — and what in Faraday's law decides that?
Explain
Make sense of what happened
Describe what happened at the particle or energy level, then connect it to the result you saw. A strong explanation names both the cause and the evidence.
Check
Before you leave
What happened to the particles or energy?
What observation supports your explanation?
If you can answer all three using evidence from the model, you understand the main idea. If not, return to Explore and change one setting at a time.