Editing Electrolysis (section)

==History==
In the early nineteenth century, [[William Nicholson (chemist)|William Nicholson]] and [[Anthony Carlisle]] sought to further [[Alessandro Volta|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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fabbri |first1=Emiliana |last2=Schmidt |first2=Thomas J. |title=Oxygen Evolution Reaction—The Enigma in Water Electrolysis |journal=ACS Catalysis |volume=8 |issue=10 |pages=9765–9774 |language=en |doi=10.1021/acscatal.8b02712 |date=5 October 2018|doi-access=free }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ashworth |first1=William |title=Martinus van Marum - Scientist of the Day |url=https://www.lindahall.org/martinus-van-marum/ |website=Linda Hall Library |date=20 March 2015}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Ihde1964">{{cite book |title=The Development of Modern Chemistry |last=Ihde | first=Aaron J. |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1964 |pages=125–127}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.electrochem.org/birth-of-electrochemistry|title=The History of Electrochemistry: From Volta to Edison|website=ECS|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-11}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thorpe |first1=Thomas |title=Humphry Davy, Poet and Philosopher |date=1896 |publisher=Macmillan & Co., Limited |location=New York |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/54862/54862-h/54862-h.htm}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lithium - periodicstats.com |url=https://www.periodicstats.com/elements/lithium |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415141041/https://periodicstats.com/elements/lithium |archive-date=15 Apr 2021 |website=www.periodicstats.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Helmenstine |first1=Todd |title=Today in Science History - January 12 - Johan August Arfwedson and Lithium |url=https://sciencenotes.org/today-in-science-history-january-12-johan-august-arfwedson/ |website=Science Notes and Projects |date=11 January 2018}}</ref>

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]].<ref name=":0" />

During the time of Maxwell and Faraday, concerns came about{{Vague|date=June 2022}} for [[electropositive]] and [[electronegative]] activities.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ede |first1=Andrew |title=A History of Science in Society |date=2017 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto, Canada |isbn=978-1-4426-3499-2 |page=251 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

In November 1875, [[Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran]] discovered [[gallium]] using electrolysis of gallium hydroxide, producing 3.4&nbsp;mg of gallium. The following December, he presented his discovery of gallium to the [[Académie des sciences]] in Paris.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marshall |first1=James and Virginia |title=Rediscovery of the Elements – Gallium |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc111187/m2/1/high_res_d/metadc111187.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc111187/m2/1/high_res_d/metadc111187.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |publisher=University of North Texas}}</ref>

On June 26, 1886, [[Ferdinand Frederick Henri Moissan]] finally felt comfortable performing electrolysis on [[anhydrous]] hydrogen fluoride to create a gaseous fluorine pure element. Before he used hydrogen fluoride, Henri Moissan used fluoride salts with electrolysis. Thus on June 28, 1886, he performed his experiment in front of the ''Académie des sciences'' to show his discovery of the new element fluorine.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wisniak|first=Jaime|date=2018-08-26|title=Henri Moissan: The discoverer of fluorine|url=http://revistas.unam.mx/index.php/req/article/view/66285|journal=Educación Química|volume=13|issue=4|pages=267|doi=10.22201/fq.18708404e.2002.4.66285|s2cid=92299077 |issn=1870-8404}}</ref> While trying to find elemental fluorine through electrolysis of fluoride salts, many chemists perished including Paulin Louyet and Jérôme Nicklès.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marshall |first1=James and Virginia |title=Rediscovery of the Elements- Fluorine and Henri Moissan |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc111213/m2/1/high_res_d/metadc111213.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc111213/m2/1/high_res_d/metadc111213.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |publisher=University of North Texas}}</ref>

In 1886 [[Charles Martin Hall]] from America and [[Paul Héroult]] from France both filed for American patents for the electrolysis of aluminum, with Héroult submitting his in May, and Hall, in July.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Beck |first1=Theodore R. |title=ECS Classics: Hall and Héroult and the Discovery of Aluminum Electrolysis |url=https://www.electrochem.org/ecs-blog/ecs-classics-hall-and-heroult-and-the-discovery-of-aluminum-electrolysis/ |website=ECS |publisher=Interface |date=21 August 2015}}</ref> Hall was able to get his patent by proving through letters to his brother and family evidence that his method was discovered before the French patent was submitted.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hall Process Production and Commercialization of Aluminum - National Historic Chemical Landmark |date=1997 |publisher=American Chemical Society |location=Oberlin, Ohio |url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/aluminumprocess.html |language=en}}</ref> This became known as the [[Hall–Héroult process]] which benefited many industries because aluminum's price then dropped from four dollars to thirty cents per pound.<ref>{{cite web |title=Paul Héroult and Charles M. Hall |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/paul-heroult-and-charles-m-hall |website=Science History Institute |language=en |date=1 June 2016}}</ref>

In 1902 Polish engineer and inventor Stanisław Łaszczyński filed for and obtained Polish patent for the electrolysis of [[copper]] and [[zinc]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2019-09-18 |title=Bohaterski naukowiec upamiętniony na kieleckim deptaku |url=https://radiokielce.pl/496240/post-91395/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |language=pl-PL}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=De Verbno Łaszczyńscy » Stanisław Ignacy Łaszczyński |url=https://laszczynski.pl/biografie/stanislaw-ignacy-laszczynski/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |language=pl-PL}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Wyborcza.pl |url=https://wyborcza.pl/alehistoria/7,121681,30793703,polak-wynalazl-alternatywe-dla-dynamitu-robil-interesy-od.html |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=wyborcza.pl}}</ref>

=== Timeline ===
* 1785 – [[Martinus van Marum]]'s electrostatic generator was used to reduce [[tin]], [[zinc]], and [[antimony]] from their salts using electrolysis.<ref>The Supplement (1803 edition) to Encyclopædia Britannica 3rd edition (1797), volume 1, page 225, "Mister Van Marum, by means of his great electrical machine, decomposed the calces of tin, zinc, and antimony, and resolved them into their respective metals and oxygen" and gives as a reference Journal de Physiques, 1785.</ref>
* 1800 – [[William Nicholson (chemist)|William Nicholson]] and [[Anthony Carlisle]] (and also [[Johann Ritter]]), decomposed [[water]] into [[hydrogen]] and [[oxygen]].
* 1808 – [[Potassium]] (1807), [[sodium]] (1807), [[barium]], [[calcium]] and [[magnesium]] were discovered by [[Sir Humphry Davy#Elements|Humphry Davy]] using electrolysis.
* 1821 – [[Lithium]] was discovered by the English chemist [[William Thomas Brande]], who obtained it by electrolysis of lithium oxide.
* 1834 – [[Michael Faraday]] published his [[Faraday's laws of electrolysis|two laws of electrolysis]], provided a mathematical explanation for them, and introduced terminology such as electrode, electrolyte, anode, cathode, anion, and cation.
* 1875 – [[Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran]] discovered [[gallium]] using electrolysis.<ref>{{cite journal|author= Lecoq de Boisbaudran P-E |journal=The Chemical News and Journal of Industrial Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XgDOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA294|year=1875|volume=32|page=294|title=On certain properties of gallium}}</ref>
* 1886 – [[Fluorine]] was discovered by [[Henri Moissan]] using electrolysis.
* 1886 – [[Hall–Héroult process]] developed for making [[aluminium]].
* 1890 – [[Castner–Kellner process]] developed for making [[sodium hydroxide]].
* 1902 – Stanisław Łaszczyński obtained [[copper]] using electrolysis.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />
* 1930 – Development of the modern chlor-alkali process (electrolysis of brine to produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide), which became an important industrial method.<ref>Electrochemical Society. (n.d.). ''Metals & Chemicals''. Retrieved February 2, 2025, fromElectrochemical Society. (n.d.). ''Metals & Chemicals''. Retrieved<nowiki/>https://www1.eere.energy.gov/manufacturing/resources/chemicals/pdfs/profile_chap6.pdf</ref>