Ion racing

Learning to control the movement of ions

Which team of ions will be faster – blue or yel­low?

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

At­ten­tion! All ex­per­i­ments are per­formed by pro­fes­sion­als. Do not at­tempt.

Process de­scrip­tion

An elec­trode with a pos­i­tive charge is called an an­ode be­cause it at­tracts par­ti­cles with a neg­a­tive charge (an­ions). An elec­trode with a neg­a­tive charge is called a cath­ode as it at­tracts par­ti­cles with a pos­i­tive charge (cations). There­fore, the green strip of the start­ing ma­te­ri­al is di­vid­ed in two – a blue seg­ment con­sist­ing of cop­per cations and a yel­low seg­ment con­sist­ing of chro­mate an­ions. When we change the po­lar­i­ty of the elec­trodes, we si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly switch their charges – and the stripes be­gin to move in op­po­site di­rec­tions. This is how ion­ic races go!

Cool and safe ex­per­i­ments await you in the MEL Chem­istry sub­scrip­tion!

Try it