5 ways to explain electrolysis

By Kristy Turner2020-07-08T09:23:00

An image showing the formation of chlorine by electrolysis, showing a petri dish and electrodes

Source: © Science Photo Library

From building good foundations to memorising the rules, these tips will help your students grasp this tricky topic

Electrolysis is an abstract concept that students can find hard to master. They can observe evidence of its products, but they can’t see what is happening in the molten compounds and solutions. They need to develop mental pictures for the microscopic and symbolic domains, relying on a lot of prior knowledge. This article provides five approaches to explaining electrolysis, all tried and tested in the classroom by a chemistry teacher.

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