Lessons in elementary physics / by Balfour Stewart.

  • Balfour Stewart
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lessons in elementary physics / by Balfour Stewart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    463/502 page 443
    so that in fact the oxygen of each particle will point to the positive, and the hydrogen of each to the negative pole. This is the first step. The next is the separation of the oxygen at the positive pole, while the hydrogen of that atom combines with the oxygen of the next atom, and the hydrogen of the second W'ith the oxygen of the third, and so on, till we come to the negative pole, when the last atom of the hydrogen is set free. The intervening particles are then twisted round so that Fig. 138. the oxygen atoms face the positive, and the hydrogen atoms the negative pole, and the same process is repeated. 435. Faraday’s Laws.—This hypothesis of Grotthuss is in accordance with the laws of electrolytic action which were discovered by Faraday. These are as follows :— 1st. The liquid electrolyte must be a conductor in order that electrolysis tnay take place. 2nd. The curroit decomposes quantities of the various electrolytes •which it traverses in the proportion of their chemical equiva- lents, so that if Pblj is decomposed at one part of a circuit, and SnCL at another, we shall obtain for 207 parts by weight of lead, 254 parts by weight of iodine, 118 of tin, and 71 of chlorine, as the results of the decomposition. 3rd. The quantity of a body decomposed in a given time is propor- tional to the strength of the current; that is to .s.ay, to the quantity of electricity which pas.ses in that time. 436. Electro-Chemical Equivalent.—The quantity of an element in grammes separated from a compound by the pas- sage of unit quantity of electricity, the coulomb, has boon measured with great care. The amount so separated is called the electro-chemical equivalent. If the electro-chemical equivalent of hydrogen be obtained.
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