Question

In a particular electroplating process, the metal being plated has a 2 charge and a molar mass of 167.873 g/mol. If 740.22 C of charge pass through the cell, how many grams of metal should be plated?

Answer 1

To calculate the mass of metal plated, determine the moles of electrons from the charge passed, account for the charge of the metal ion, and use the molar mass to find the mass of metal. In this case, 0.6436 grams of metal should be plated.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question involves calculating the mass of metal that should be plated during an electroplating process, given the charge passed through the cell. To find the answer, we can follow these steps:

1. Calculate the number of moles of electrons using the total charge passed and Faraday's constant (1 Faraday = 96,485 C/mol e-).
2. Since the metal ion has a +2 charge, it will take two moles of electrons to reduce one mole of the metal ion to metal.
3. Calculate the mass of the metal plated using the molar mass of the metal and the moles of metal ions reduced.

First, we calculate the moles of electrons: 740.22 C / 96,485 C/mol e- = 0.00767 mol e-. Then, because the metal ion has a 2+ charge, it takes half as many moles of metal ions to use up these electrons, so the moles of metal ions reduced is 0.00767 mol e- / 2 = 0.003835 mol. Finally, we calculate the mass of the metal plated: 0.003835 mol * 167.873 g/mol = 0.6436 g.

Therefore, 0.6436 grams of metal should be plated during the electroplating process.