electrolysis

Electrolysis refers to the practice of making nonspontaneous reactions happen by applying electricity. An electrolytic cell has the same setup as a galvanic cell, except the cell potential ${\xi }^{\circ }$ is negative, meaning that in order for the reaction to proceed, a voltage must be applied to the cell. The reduced metal (metal with the highest reduction potential) will plate the electrode and eventually plate out the electrode, thereby stopping the reaction.

To calculate the amount of plated metal collected over a period of time:

$$m=It\cdot \frac{1\mathrm{mol}\mathrm{e}{}^{-}}{96485\mathrm{C}}\cdot \frac{\mathrm{x}\mathrm{mol}\mathrm{metal}}{\mathrm{y}\mathrm{mol}\mathrm{e}{}^{-}}\cdot \frac{\text{molar mass}}{\mathrm{mol}}$$

where $I$ is the current in $\mathrm{A}=1\mathrm{C}/\mathrm{s}$ and $t$ is time elapsed in $\mathrm{s}$.