Author Topic: Measuring time for electrolysis of gold  (Read 1941 times)

Offline PeterXXL

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Measuring time for electrolysis of gold
« on: July 19, 2015, 11:49:08 AM »
Kephra:  Ref....  http://www.cgcsforum.org/index.php?topic=1800.0

I cannot see the reason why not the formula for calculating time in minutes cannot be used for the electrolysis of gold (but using the constant 23.3 instead of 15.02)?

Gold ions (Ag3+) are released from the gold anode, where the electrons "carries the current" to the cathode, disregarding the insolubility of the goldtrihydroxide (Ag3OH) in water, so there must be a relationship between the released gold ions (Ag3+) and the current that flows from anode to cathode, and also between the gold chloride that is formed as long as there is enough of chloride.

Offline kephra

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Re: Measuring time for electrolysis of gold
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2015, 11:56:59 AM »
Well there is not because the amount of chloride ions present for combining with the gold is not constant, but ever decreasing down to zero.

For there to be a timing constant, the mix would have to obey Faraday's law but it does not.
Any electron flowing through the circuit might create a gold chloride, but they might just produce oxygen and hydrogen from the electrolysis of water. 

Even a chloride ion reacting with a gold ion on the surface of the anode might or might not produce a gold chloride simply because a gold ion requires 3 chlorides to be a soluble gold compound.  Gold ions are not released from the anode unless they are gold tri-chloride.

There is not even a solid relationship between the amount of chloride present and the amount of gold released for the reason that some of the chloride is simply released as chlorine gas without generating a gold chloride molecule.
There is the unknown and the unknowable.  It's a wise man who knows the difference.