Question

Please help !!!! Faraday's Experiment! In chemistry book I read that faraday observed that when two metal plates called electrodes, are placed in an electrolytic solution and an electric current is passed, the solution breaks up into charged particles called ions" but I am confusing that if it was a electrolytic solution then it already had ions. What it mean that it breaks up into ions .

Answer 1

You are correct, there were ions before and after passing the electric current. Doesn't mean that the ions are the same. Some ions will react and form other compound and other compounds will break apart producen ions of different nature or element.

Process of electrolysis[edit]
The key process of electrolysis is the interchange of atoms and ions by the removal or addition of electrons from the external circuit. The desired products of electrolysis are often in a different physical state from the electrolyte and can be removed by some physical processes. For example, in the electrolysis of brine to produce hydrogen and chlorine, the products are gaseous. These gaseous products bubble from the electrolyte and are collected.[3]
2 NaCl + 2 H2O → 2 NaOH + H2 + Cl2
A liquid containing mobile ions (electrolyte) is produced by:
Solvation or reaction of an ionic compound with a solvent (such as water) to produce mobile ions
An ionic compound is fused by heating
An electrical potential is applied across a pair of electrodes immersed in the electrolyte.
Each electrode attracts ions that are of the opposite charge. Positively charged ions (cations) move towards the electron-providing (negative) cathode. Negatively charged ions (anions) move towards the electron-extracting (positive) anode.
In this process electrons are either absorbed or released. Neutral atoms gain or lose electrons and become charged ions that then pass into the electrolyte. The formation of uncharged atoms from ions is called discharging. When an ion gains or loses enough electrons to become uncharged (neutral) atoms, the newly formed atoms separate from the electrolyte. Positive metal ions like Cu++ deposit onto the cathode in a layer. The terms for this are electroplating electrowinning and electrorefining. When an ion gains or loses electrons without becoming neutral, its electronic charge is altered in the process. In chemistry the loss of electrons is called oxidation while electron gain is called reduction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolysis#Process_of_electrolysis

Answer 2

Sir!! Does molecules of solvent like water also dissociate into ions and move towards respective electrodes? I am asking this because I read it in preparation of hydrogen. Thank you for the reply

Answer 3

Yes definitively they do!!

H2O --> H+ + OH-

Answer 4

2H2O --> 2H+ + 2OH- --> 2 H2 + O2

Answer 5

I have an another confusion about it that when electricity passes through solution does electrons move or this electricity is due to motion of ions and how electrons are gained or lost.

Answer 6

electricity is electrons moving. They can move from one atom to other or from one atom to an ion or from one ion to other ion