Electroplating Experiment

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Electroplating Experiment

Aim

To find the amount copper gains or loses on the electrodes using

different amounts of current each time during electrolysis. How the

changing of current affects the electroplating of copper.

Introduction

Electroplating is generally carried out in order to improve the

appearance or corrosion resistance of the surface of a metal by

electrodepositing a thin layer of metal ion on it. The metal substrate

to be coated is made by the cathode in an electrolytic cell. The cell

used in electroplating contains an electrolyte which is usually an

aqueous solution containing a reasonably high concentration of an ion

of the metal which is to be electroplated on the surface. The cell

anode is usually a piece of the metal to be plated from solution; this

enables the anode reaction of metal dissolution to replace the metal

ion lost from solution by the cathodic decomposition.

Factors

There are many various factors that affect the mass deposited during

electroplating:-

1). Current (A) - An increase in the amount of current increases

the amount of substance deposited in a fixed

amount of time, because there is more energy available to move

ions/electrons to the cathode from the anode. A smaller current will

pump fewer copper ions from the anode to the cathode in the same

amount of mass gained on the cathode is lower.

2). Time - The longer time can let more copper ions from

the anode to the cathode if the current are the

same. There are still more factors which can affect

the mass deposited during electroplating.

3). Distance between two electrodes - If the distance between the two

electrodes is greater, the copper ions

require to travel more from the anode

to the cathode. If the distance between

the two electrodes is smaller, the copper

ions need less energy to flow from the

anode to the cathode

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