Faraday’s Laws of Electrolysis
After his extensive investigations on electrolysis of solutions and melts
of electrolytes, Faraday published his results during 1833-34 in the
form of the following well known Faraday’s two laws of electrolysis:
(i) First Law: The amount of chemical reaction which occurs at any
electrode during electrolysis by a current is proportional to the
quantity of electricity passed through the electrolyte (solution or
melt) (ii) Second Law: The amounts of different substances liberated by the
same quantity of electricity passing through the electrolytic solution
are proportional to their chemical equivalent weights (Atomic Mass
of Metal ÷ Number of electrons required to reduce the cation) 2 5
2