I.

RATIONALE

For most people, electricity is a mysterious force that somehow magically appears when we flip

a light switch or plug in an appliance. Yet, while the science behind the flow of electricity is very

complex, the basics of electrical flow, or current, are easy to understand if you learn some key

terms and functions. It also helps to compare the flow of electricity through wires with the flow

of water through pipes.

In any electrochemical process, electrons flow from one chemical substance to another, driven

by an oxidation–reduction (redox) reaction. A redox reaction occurs when electrons are

transferred from a substance that is oxidized to one that is being reduced. The reductant is the

substance that loses electrons and is oxidized in the process; the oxidant is the species that gains

electrons and is reduced in the process. The associated potential energy is determined by the

potential difference between the valence electrons in atoms of different elements.

If you suffer a power outage that leaves you in the dark, and your flashlight is out of batteries,

you might find the energy to power the bulb in your refrigerator. An orange, lemon or lime can

act as a battery, and while a single one might not generate enough voltage to illuminate an LED

bulb, several wired in series will. Citrus fruits can do this because they contain citric acid, an

electrolyte that allows electricity to flow. The power actually comes from the electron exchange

between a pair of electrodes that you insert in the fruit pulp. For the exchange to be powerful

enough to do anything useful, you need a strong conducting medium, and citrus fruits –

especially lemons – have that in spades.

Electrolysis is the use of an electric current for the progression of a certain chemical reaction.

Electroplating is the use of an electric current for the plating of a certain metal on a different
metal. Both these techniques are industrially used in the production of different equipment or

compounds. The main difference between electrolysis and electroplating is that electrolysis is the

use of electrical current to drive a non-spontaneous chemical reaction whereas electroplating is

the use of electrical current to plate one metal on another metal.

There are many applications of electrolysis. One common application is the electrolysis of water.

Here, water is used as the electrolyte. Then the reaction of the breakdown of water molecules

into hydrogen and oxygen gases can be done.

An electrolyte is a substance that contains free ions and behaves as an electrically conductive

medium. Because electrolytes generally consist of ions in solution, they are also known as ionic

solutions. A strong electrolyte is one where many ions are present in the solution and a weak

electrolyte is one where few ions are present. Strong electrolytes are good conductors of

electricity and weak electrolytes are weak conductors of electricity. Non-electrolytes do not

conduct electricity at all. Conductivity in aqueous solutions is a measure of the ability of water to

conduct an electric current. The more ions there are in the solution, the higher its conductivity.

Also the more ions there are in solution, the stronger the electrolyte.
II. OBJECTIVES

 Prove that electricity is flowing by making a light turn on and the chemical

reactions that make this happen.

 Know how the electrochemical cell works.

 Know how chemical reactions and electricity can be used to coat a metal with

a thin layer of another metal.

 Investigate how well solutions of different substances conduct electricity.

 III. MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES

ACTIVITY 1- ELECTRICITY FROM FRUIT

Materials

• 2 Lemon • 2 Multimeter

• 2 Potato • 4 Leads

• 2 Copper strip • 1 Lead

• 2 Zinc strip • 2 Magnesium strip

Procedures in Making and testing a Battery

1. Take a copper strip and a zinc strip and sand them a little to make them shiny.

2. Take the lemon and squeeze it a little to release the juice inside.

3. Cut the lemon in half.

4. Push the copper strip and the zinc strip into the lemon, parallel to each other so they do not
touch each other.

5. Touch your tongue across a battery.

Now test the lemon or potato battery and note down the results.

1. Connect up a voltmeter to your cell.

2. Connect up the voltmeter to give you a positive reading.

3. Connect up a LED (small red bulb) to your lemon battery with the longer lead connected to
the positive terminal.

ACTIVITY 2-THE ELECTROCHEMICAL CELL

Materials

• 1 piece of corrugated cardboard • 1 beaker or jar (250mL)

• 1 cotton wool • 1 copper strip

• 1 copper sulphate powder • 1 zinc strip

• 2 zinc sulphate powder • 4 leads

• 2 water • 1 100 ohms resistor

• 1 voltmeter

Procedures in making the electrochemical cell

1. Cut a piece of thick cardboard to fit into the glass beaker to divide it into two.

2. Place a thin roll of cotton wool around the edge of the cardboard and slide it into the beaker.

3. Make up a solution of copper sulphate and zinc sulphate in separate containers, with a

concentration of about two heaped teaspoons per 150 mL of water.

4. Pour the two solutions, at the same time, into the two compartments formed by the cardboard

so that they don’t mix together too much.

5. Label each side so that you know which is which.

6. Place the copper plate in the compartment with the copper sulphate solution, and the zinc

sulphate solution.

Investigating how it works

1. Connect the zinc electrode to the copper electrode using a connecting wire and note down

what you see happening in the beakers.

2. Disconnect the wire.

3. Connect the two electrodes to a voltmeter; measure the voltage across the two electrodes.

4. Remove the voltmeter. Connect the two electrodes to an ammeter and a 100 ohms resistor.

Measure and note down the current in the circuit.

5. Measure and note down the voltage across the resistor in the circuit.

6. After a few minutes, some substances begin to form on the copper electrode.

7. After some minutes the blue copper of the copper sulphate solution begins to fade.
ACTIVITY 3- ELECTROLYSIS AND ELECTRO-PLATING

Materials

• 1 beaker • 6V battery

• 2 carbon rods • 2 leads

• 25g Copper(II) chloride

• 150mL water

• 1 teaspoon

Procedures in Copper coating a Carbon rod

1. Add three teaspoons of copper (II) chloride to about 150mL of water into a 250mL beaker

2. Stir the solution until all of the copper (II) chloride dissolves.

3. Put two carbon rods into the solution for one minute.

4. Connect a 6V battery to the two carbon rods and look closely at what is taking place in the

solution.

5. After a few minutes, disconnect the battery and take out the two carbon rods.

ACTIVITY 5- SOLUTIONS, CONDUCTIVITY AND IONISATION

1. Test each of the solid crystal substance by connecting them to a battery and seeing if you can
get a reading on an ammeter.
2. Test the liquid substances by connecting a battery to two carbon rods and placing them into the
liquids.
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