Electroplating in a Classroom Environment
In this experiment we tested how certain conditions affect the copper electroplating process. Electroplating is the deposition of a metallic coating onto an object by putting a negative charge onto the object and immersing it into a solution, which contains a salt of the metal to be deposited. Using Design Of Experiment (D.O.E.)., we tested three conditions: voltage, molarity of the plating solution, and the surface area immersed in solution. To perform the experiment, we ran current through a target steel rod, solution, and another steel rod to complete the circuit, and massed the amount of copper plated onto the target rod. The data showed that using a high voltage resulted in a significantly greater mass of plated copper, a high surface area resulted in a slightly greater mass of plated copper, and molarity had no significant effect.
Research Done By:
John Girard
Fraser
Dave Krogh
Sterling
Warren Consolidated Schools