Electroplating Simulator 2D — Faraday's Laws of Electrolysis

Bath & Circuit

Metal Copper

Current I 2.0 A

Cathode area A 20 cm²

Current efficiency η 95%

Live Readouts

Elapsed time

0 s

Charge passed Q

0 C

Deposited mass m

0.000 g

Coating thickness

0.00 µm

How it works

Electroplating drives a non-spontaneous reduction of metal ions onto a cathode using an external current, governed by Faraday's laws of electrolysis:

m = η · (M · I · t) / (n · F)
F = 96,485 C/mol   (Faraday constant)
M = molar mass of the metal (g/mol)
n = electrons transferred per ion
I = current (A),  t = time (s)
η = current efficiency (fraction of current that actually deposits metal)

The deposited mass m converts to a coating thickness via the metal's density ρ and the cathode area A:

thickness = m / (ρ · A)

Metal — sets molar mass M, valence n and density ρ used in the equations above (Cu²⁺, Ag⁺, Ni²⁺, Cr³⁺, Zn²⁺).
Current I — higher current moves more charge per second (Q = I·t), depositing metal faster but not always more evenly.
Cathode area A — the same mass spread over a larger surface gives a thinner coating.
Current efficiency η — real baths lose some current to side reactions (e.g. hydrogen evolution); only the fraction η actually plates metal.

This 2D cross-section engine integrates dQ = I·dt every animation frame into a running charge total, then converts that charge to mass and thickness with the same Faraday's-law formula used by the 3D version — doubling the current doubles the deposition rate exactly, because the integral is linear in I.

Real-world relevance: this is the exact calculation used to time chromium plating on car trim, silver plating on cutlery, copper plating on PCBs, and zinc galvanizing for corrosion protection — operators pick I and t to hit a target thickness in microns.

Deposited metal coating Cathode (workpiece) Anode (sacrificial metal)

Electroplating Simulator — Faraday's Laws of Electrolysis