BharatNotes Electrolysis
noun (uncountable)Usage in a UPSC answer
India's pursuit of net-zero hinges substantially on green hydrogen produced through the electrolysis of water using renewable power, a pathway that could decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors such as steel and fertilisers while reducing the import dependence that burdens the current account.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
electrolyse (v), electrolyte (n), electrolytic (adj), electrolytically (adv), electrolysis (n)
Root
Greek ēlektron = amber (source of static electricity) + lysis = loosening, breaking apart; coined by Faraday 1830s
Etymology
From Greek ēlektron (ἤλεκτρον, "amber" — from which static electricity was first observed) + lysis (λύσις, "loosening, breaking apart"); coined by Michael Faraday in the 1830s during his groundbreaking experiments on the relationship between electricity and chemical change.
Memory Hook
"Electro + lysis" = electricity that loosens (Greek lysis = "loosening"). Picture an electric current "lysing" (splitting) water apart into bubbles of gas — the current loosens the molecular bonds.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
The use of an electric current to drive a non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Faraday's laws quantify it and form the examinable core: the mass liberated or deposited at an electrode is proportional to the quantity of electricity passed, and for a given quantity of electricity the masses of different substances are proportional to their equivalent weights. The industrial applications follow directly, including the extraction of highly reactive metals such as aluminium, sodium and magnesium, which cannot be obtained by carbon reduction because they are more reactive than carbon; the refining of copper to the purity electrical use demands; electroplating; and the chlor-alkali process. The application that matters for policy is green hydrogen, made by splitting water with renewable electricity, whose significance is that it can decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors where emissions come from process chemistry rather than energy, so steel and fertiliser become addressable in a way electrification alone cannot manage. The constraint is that electrolysis is energy-intensive, so the hydrogen is only as clean as the electricity used.
Don’t Confuse It With
Electrolysis uses electrical energy to drive a non-spontaneous reaction, the reverse of a galvanic cell in which a spontaneous reaction generates electricity. An electrolyte conducts through the movement of ions, unlike a metallic conductor which conducts through electrons. Faraday's first law relates mass deposited to charge passed, and the second relates the masses of different substances to their equivalent weights. Green hydrogen uses renewable electricity, grey hydrogen comes from natural gas without capture, and blue hydrogen from natural gas with carbon capture.
Hindi Meaning
विद्युत अपघटन (vidyut apghatan); हरित हाइड्रोजन for green hydrogen.
Common Questions
- Why must aluminium be extracted by electrolysis?
- Because aluminium is more reactive than carbon, so it cannot be obtained by carbon reduction as iron is, and electrical energy must be used to reduce it instead.
- What makes hydrogen green rather than grey?
- Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysing water using renewable electricity, whereas grey hydrogen is made from natural gas without capturing the resulting carbon dioxide.
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