Calcium Chloride Electrolysis: Calculating Maximum Moles of Calcium Deposited

How to calculate the maximum number of moles of calcium that could be deposited in calcium chloride electrolysis?

If a current of 19.47 amps was applied for 19.97 hours, what is the maximum number of moles of calcium that could be deposited?

Calculation of Maximum Moles of Calcium Deposited in Calcium Chloride Electrolysis

The maximum number of moles of calcium that could be deposited is 7.28 mol. To calculate this, we need to utilize Faraday's laws of electrolysis.

When conducting calcium chloride electrolysis to deposit calcium metal, it is essential to determine the maximum number of moles of calcium that can be deposited. In this scenario, a current of 19.47 amps was applied for 19.97 hours.

To calculate the maximum moles of calcium deposited, we first need to determine the electrical charge passed through the electrolyte during electrolysis. This can be done using the equation: Q = It, where Q is the electrical charge, I is the current, and t is the time.

Given that the current I = 19.47 A and time t = 19.97 hours x 3600 seconds/hour = 71892 seconds, we can calculate the electrical charge Q = 19.47 A x 71892 s = 1.401 x 10^6 C.

Next, we convert the electrical charge to moles of calcium using the Faraday constant, which indicates the relationship between moles and electrical charge. The Faraday constant is 2 because each calcium ion requires 2 electrons to be reduced to calcium metal.

By applying the formula n = Q / (2 x F), where F is the Faraday constant, we can calculate the maximum number of moles of calcium deposited as 7.28 mol.

It's important to note that this calculation assumes 100% efficiency, which may not be achievable in practical settings. Furthermore, factors like the electrode size and calcium chloride concentration can influence the actual amount of calcium deposited.

While this calculation specifically addresses calcium deposition, it's interesting to observe that similar principles can be applied to produce metallic elements like plutonium through electrolysis under specific conditions.