Electrolysis and plating calculator
Pick a metal, then convert the charge passed through a plating bath or cell into grams deposited, or the grams you need into amp-hours.
Nothing on our list is smaller: an AA battery’s charge is 2.5× more.
What it means
How much charge is that?
At 100 % current efficiency. Real baths lose some current to side reactions (hydrogen); chromium plating is often only 15–25 % efficient.
Every unit
That charge in every unit
Learn
Three things worth knowing
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26.8 Ah per equivalent
A mole of electrons is 26.8 Ah. Divide the molar mass by z for grams per 26.8 Ah.
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Faraday’s laws
Faraday coined “electrolysis”, “electrode” and “ion” in 1834 with William Whewell, and stated both laws of electrolysis.
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Same charge, different mass
The same 1 Ah deposits four times more mass of silver than copper, because silver is heavier and only singly charged.
Shortcuts
Popular charge conversions
Background
About Faraday’s law
Michael Faraday found in 1834 that the mass deposited at an electrode is proportional to the charge passed: m = Q M ÷ (z F), where F = 96,485 C is the charge of a mole of electrons and z the ion’s charge.
One amp-hour (3,600 C) plates 1.19 g of copper from Cu²⁺, 4.02 g of silver from Ag⁺, or frees 0.038 g of hydrogen.