What is meant by 1 faraday of electricity? What happens when we supply 1 faraday to an electrolyte?

A faraday is a measure of electric charge, named after the famous scientist Michael Faraday. It is defined as the amount of electric charge carried by one mole of electrons and is equal to the Avogadro's number (approximately \(6.022 \times 10^{23}\)) multiplied by the elementary charge of an electron (\(e \approx 1.602 \times 10^{-19}\) C), giving a total charge of approximately 96485 Coulombs per faraday. Mathematically, 1 faraday is represented as: 1 Faraday = Avogadro's number \(\times\) charge of an electron 1 Faraday = \(6.022 \times 10^{23} \times 1.602 \times 10^{-19}\) C ≈ 96485 C

Electrolysis is the process in which an electric current is passed through an electrolyte, causing a non-spontaneous redox reaction to occur. The electrolyte is a substance (usually a molten ionic compound or solution) that can conduct electricity due to the presence of free ions. When 1 faraday of electric charge is supplied to an electrolyte, it results in the discharge of 1 mole of electrons at the electrode.

When we supply 1 faraday to an electrolyte, it causes a specific amount of a substance to be deposited or liberated at the electrodes in the electrolytic cell. Due to Faraday's laws of electrolysis, the amount of substance deposited is directly proportional to the quantity of electric charge passed through the electrolyte. One mole of electrons being transferred to or from the electrolyte corresponds to a charge of 1 faraday. In general, for a reaction with a stoichiometric coefficient of n electrons, the amount of substance formed (in moles) is given by: Amount of substance (in moles) = \(\frac{Q}{nF}\) where Q is the charge supplied (in faradays), n is the stoichiometric coefficient of electrons, and F is the Faraday constant (96485 C per faraday). So, when 1 faraday is supplied to an electrolyte, the amount of substance formed would be: \(\frac{1}{n}\) mole, where n is the stoichiometric coefficient of the species being deposited or liberated. Keep in mind that the specific substance and the stoichiometry of the reaction depend on the electrolyte being used and the electrodes' potential.