markr asks:
electrolysis of a molten metal chloride MCl3 using a current of 6.50 A for 1397 seconds deposits 1.41 g of the metal at the cathode. What is the metal?
etutor answers:
One Faraday of charge will move one mole of electrons.
One Faraday is 96500 coulombs.
One coulomb is one amp per second. So in this case we are using 6.5 x 1397
coulombs = 9080.5 C. That is equivalent to 0.094 mol. of electrons.
In MCl3 the metal must be M3+, so it needs 3 moles of electrons to fully
discharge a mole of it. Or 1/3 mol from one mol of electrons.
0.094 mol electrons produces 1.41 g
so 1 mol electrons produces 15 g
15 g is 1/3 moles. One mol is 45 g.
The metal is scandium.