Electrolysis

In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of elements from naturally occurring sources such as ores using an electrolytic cell. The voltage that is needed for electrolysis to occur is called the decomposition potential. The word "lysis" means to separate or break, so in terms, electrolysis would mean "breakdown via electricity."

The word "electrolysis" was introduced by Michael Faraday in 1834, using the Greek words ἤλεκτρον [ɛ̌ːlektron] "amber", which since the 17th century was associated with electrical phenomena, and λύσις [lýsis] meaning "dissolution". Nevertheless, electrolysis, as a tool to study chemical reactions and obtain pure elements, precedes the coinage of the term and formal description by Faraday.

In the early nineteenth century, William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle sought to further Volta's experiments. They attached two wires to either side of a voltaic pile and placed the other ends in a tube filled with water. They noticed when the wires were brought together that each wire produced bubbles. One type was hydrogen, the other was oxygen.

In 1785 a Dutch scientist named Martin van Marum created an electrostatic generator that he used to reduce tin, zinc and antimony from their salts using a process later known as electrolysis. Though he unknowingly produced electrolysis, it was not until 1800 when William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle discovered how electrolysis works.

In 1791 Luigi Galvani experimented with frog legs. He claimed that placing animal muscle between two dissimilar metal sheets resulted in electricity. Responding to these claims, Alessandro Volta conducted his own tests. This would give insight to Humphry Davy's ideas on electrolysis. During preliminary experiments, Humphry Davy hypothesized that when two elements combine to form a compound, electrical energy is released. Humphry Davy would go on to create Decomposition Tables from his preliminary experiments on Electrolysis. The Decomposition Tables would give insight on the energies needed to break apart certain compounds.

In 1817 Johan August Arfwedson determined there was another element, lithium, in some of his samples; however, he could not isolate the component. It was not until 1821 that William Thomas Brande used electrolysis to single it out. Two years later, he streamlined the process using lithium chloride and potassium chloride with electrolysis to produce lithium and lithium hydroxide.

During the later years of Humphry Davy's research, Michael Faraday became his assistant. While studying the process of electrolysis under Humphry Davy, Michael Faraday discovered two laws of electrolysis.

During the time of Maxwell and Faraday, concerns came about^[vague] for electropositive and electronegative activities.