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Electrochemistry HELP NEEDED WITH CHEMICAL EQUATION

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13ishmael

Active member
Joined
Sep 18, 2016
Messages
26
I have silver electrodes and an electrolytic solution of sodium thiosulfate here is what I did for my equation

Ag+Na2S2O3=Ag2S2O3+2Na

is this correct?? I keep looking at it and I believe silver sulfide will be formed, but I don't know how.

What will be the gas and what will be the solid, liquid, and aqueous solution.

what will occur at the anode and cathode specifically?? What will form??
 
:D
Lino1406 said:
If you bubble air (recommended)
2Ag + Na2S2O3 + 1/2O2 + H2O = Ag2S2O3 + 2NaOH

That reaction you made looks really odd. I'm not saying you are wrong it's just weird. Can you explain it??
 
13ishmael said:
:D
Lino1406 said:
If you bubble air (recommended)
2Ag + Na2S2O3 + 1/2O2 + H2O = Ag2S2O3 + 2NaOH

That reaction you made looks really odd. I'm not saying you are wrong it's just weird. Can you explain it??
Is it the ½O2 that looks odd?

It could also be written as: 4Ag + 2Na2S2O3 + O2 + 2H2O = 2Ag2S2O3 + 4NaOH

Dave
 
May I ask what you want to achieve with such a system? I am asking because I can see no reasonable practical usage of this. If you are trying to use it for the purification of impure silver, as in the nitrate silver cell, you are wasting your time, for at least 2 reasons.

(1) The anode reaction is very inefficient and most of the current will be involved in side reactions. There is a thiosulfate silver stripper in the literature that is used for electrolytically stripping thin plated silver deposits. For any efficiency at all, it requires a very high concentration of 200 g/l Na2S2O3. That's 1.67 pounds per gallon.

(2) If some silver did dissolve at the anode and if the cathode were stationary, - black, stinking, non-adherent, fluffy, solid silver sulfide will form at the cathode surface and you would have a big mess. When plating the silver from photo Na2S2O3 fixer solutions, the cathode is a stainless steel drum that rotates. This rotation agitates the cathode film enough to quickly replenish the solution there and produce solid metallic silver that adheres to the cathode. Another agitation scheme involves circulating the solution with a pump and impinging the pump output directly on the SS sheet cathode. Still another is to move the SS sheet cathodes back and forth, horizontally, with a cathode rod agitator.

The second one above occurs because the silver thiosulfate complex ion is negative and therefore is repulsed by the negative cathode rather that being attracted. Therefore, as some silver deposits, the area right at the cathode surface becomes depleted with complex silver ions very rapidly. With no agitation at the cathode surface, the applied current, which has to do something, decomposes the thiosulfate and forms sulfide ion which combines with the silver in solution to form silver sulfide. This is averted by using a type of agitation that produces a shearing action at the cathode surface.
 
So what formula could I use to measure how much electrons I'm losing at the anode and gaining at the cathode??
How can I find out the weights of both electrodes after 1 hour electrolysis??
 
13ishmael said:
So what formula could I use to measure how much electrons I'm losing at the anode and gaining at the cathode??
How can I find out the weights of both electrodes after 1 hour electrolysis??
Due to the inefficiency, there is no meaningful formula. If you want the weights of the electrodes, rinse, dry, and weigh them.
 
Okay.
How can we reduce Au2S. Gold sulfide and fully extract the gold without losing any gold particles???
 
I am not sure where you are getting a gold sulfide (in the question above, electrolysis of gold in thiosulfate would not produce sulfides.

If this is from ore you can roast the sulfides.
Being sort of at the bottom of the chain chemically, high heat is what you need.
if you are not dealing with ore it is doubtful you are dealing with gold sulfides.
 
13ishmael said:
Okay.
How can we reduce Au2S. Gold sulfide and fully extract the gold without losing any gold particles???
When did you change from silver to gold? You were talking about silver and thiosulfate. Now you're asking about reducing Au2S? :? Are you dealing with silver or gold?

Dave
 
In the question I was dealing with silver but. I wanted to get an answer for another question here instead of creating a new post.

If I have gold sulfide or silver sulfide. How can I prevent from creating hydrogen sulfide during the electrolysis? I found this to be impossible but I wanted a second opinion.

Au2S+Mg=2Au+MgS

I end up getting gold but I end up with hydrogen gas as well due to the reaction of water and electrolysis.

Same with silver. Is there any way around this.
 
I am totally lost as to what you are trying to do. What is your source material? Are you trying to use this in a recovery process or are you trying to use this as a refining process? Gold, silver, or both?
 
Please stop asking questions and expect others to fill in the missing information. We can't give you proper advice if we don't know all the information. You haven't provided any information i ask for in your reply above. I still don't have a clue what you are trying to accomplish or with what materials your trying to recover or refine.
 
I'm sorry but you aren't sanctioned to tell me what I can and cannot write. You don't need to answer the post.
More importantly you do not need to know what I'm doing other than what I have posted.

I'm not asking you what if I do it this way, what will occur, if you can't answer it then please leave it.
 
13ishmael said:
I'm sorry but you aren't sanctioned to tell me what I can and cannot write. You don't need to answer the post.
More importantly you do not need to know what I'm doing other than what I have posted.

I'm not asking you what if I do it this way, what will occur, if you can't answer it then please leave it.
13ismael, I'm torn between just banning you outright or trying to offer a bit of advice. Since I believe in trying to give people another chance, I'll offer some advice.

You've come here asking for help. You haven't provided much information about what you're trying to do, so it's difficult for anyone to give you any advice. Palladium asked appropriate questions so others might be able to help you. Instead of answering, you lashed out at him.

We don't like that very much here!

Just as you've suggested that if Palladium can't answer your question as asked he should leave it, if someone responds to your post and you don't like the answer, I'd suggest you do the same. You can respond and tell them you can't, or don't want to, provide any more information. You can ignore their post if you like. But if you lash out at anyone like this in the future, you'll be asking for advice somewhere other than this forum.

Dave
 
You will ban me because I told palladium what I felt. I believe I have the right to say what I want because I am the one asking the question and I am the one seeking help.
I am not entitled to advice nor is anybody on this forum. But if It seemed as if I laser out on palladium then you are mistaken.

I an allowed to write what I want as long as it is not profane and stays within the confines of refining and chemistry.

And please do not threaten me with that crap
 

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