Talk:Electrolytic process
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Suggested expansion and revision.[edit]
The phrase "impure (97% pure) copper", whilst completely true, is a little misleading, because usually "impurities" are unwanted things. THis is not exactly true in this case. Read on.
Suggested next few sentences. Someone with more specific metallurgical experience would no doubt do better.
The nature of copper is such that the "impurities" in the 97% copper are actually ores of other metals, often commerically valuable ones, with silver and even gold being the most obvious but not the only ones. Almost always, they are metals that are "near" copper on the periodic table. Which metals are actually found varies quite widely, depending on the initial copper ore, and where it was located. In any case, it is often economically worthwhile collecting and reprocessing these impurities.
To obtain the highly pure copper, the electrolysis has to be performed at a relatively low voltage, with the exact voltage depending on the impurities. If too high a voltage is used, then the impurity metals will dissolve into the electrolyte in exactly the same way as the copper does, and so ultimately end up being mixed in with the cathodic copper, which defeats the purpose of separation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.167.144.168 (talk) 06:35, 8 February 2019 (UTC)
A link could probably also be made to Sodium, which has a section on how it is refiend - electrolytically. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.167.144.168 (talk) 11:05, 9 February 2019 (UTC)