Question:
I was finished an electrolysis experiment and I disconnected the power
supply. I was playing around with the voltmeter and had it hooked up
to just my apparatus electrodes, which were still dipped in the
solution. What happened was that there was a 1 V reading. I've been
researching this since I noticed that, but all of my sources (mainly a
few textbooks) don't mention anything about it. Is the voltage
residual charge left on the electrodes, or are the products of
electrolysis getting reduced and oxidized again? There wasn't any
current though. Doesn't that mean no electrons are being transferred?
I'd appreciate any type of information, even if it's just to tell me
to "Get lost and go to another group"
Answer:
-Um, what do you mean by 'no current' - do you mean that there was no
detectable current ? WHat was the sensitivity of your amperemeter ? What
balance resistor was used ?
This looks like electrochemical reaction of your electrolysis products -
kind of like in the standard lead battery only much weaker. What did you
electrolyze and using what electrodes ? Were the electrodes the same in
shape/size/surface area ? -You didn't say anything about the nature of your electrolysis experiment. Let's
say you were doing an electrophoresis experiment at 100V. Electrophoresis
achieves separation by exploiting differences in mobility of charged species.
The 100V is going to create some sort of nonequilibrium gradient of charged
species. A concentration gradient will lead to an electromotive force according
to the Nernst equation. This might be relevant to what you are doing.
