Imagine two flat conducting plates (3 x 3), one as the anode and the other as the cathode, submerged into electrolytes (e.g. sea water) and a DC current is applied to this apparatus. Could current flow through this configuration now? Would the current spread out along the electric field line between the plates? And how much resistance would there be between the plates?
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2$\begingroup$ Yes, of course. Current would flow between the plates, better known as 'electrodes'. $\endgroup$– GertCommented Jul 13, 2020 at 22:43
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$\begingroup$ this is called electrolysis $\endgroup$– ChemEngCommented Jul 14, 2020 at 1:38
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2 Answers
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Note that capacitor plates are separated by some kind of dielectric material, which is an electrical insulator. If you replace this material with an electrolyte, you no longer have a capacitor: the resulting configuration is more like a wire. The resistance has to do with the resistivity of your conductor, as well as the area of the plates, but for systems with a load, the resistance across the sea water would be negligible.
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The minimum potential to split water is 1.23V this is called electrolysis. A reaction is happening at either electrode where $$ 2 H2O(l) → O2(g) + 4 H+(aq) + 4e−$$ at the anode(positively charged terminal)
and $$ 2 H+(aq) + 2e− → H2(g) $$ at the cathode(negatively charged terminal)
as you can see at the anode positive H+ ions are produced so we need negative ions (Cl- and OH-) to come in while at the cathode positive (H+)ions are consumed so we need positive ions (Na+, H+) to come in this is how the current ionic flux is produced. But the current itself is just a function of the number of moles being converted per unit time I=nFdN/dt n is the number of electrons involved in the reaction, F is Faradays constant and dN/dt is the reaction rate
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$\begingroup$ Also try wikipedia Nernst Planck and Einstein Stokes relations $\endgroup$– ChemEngCommented Jul 15, 2020 at 16:35