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SUMMARY:Electrolysis: What Textbooks Don’t Tell Us - Department of Histo
 ry and Philosophy of Science\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20190603T153000Z
DTEND:20190603T170000Z
UID:TALK125290@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ann Waterman
DESCRIPTION:We present a critical discussion of how chemistry textbooks tr
 eat the electrolysis of water and aqueous salt solutions. Our analysis is 
 based on a survey of general chemistry textbooks in English and Korean at 
 secondary and tertiary levels\, also informed by our own experiments and t
 he historical background of 19th-century debates. English- language textbo
 oks present various and contradictory accounts of the electrolysis of wate
 r\; a key point of disagreement is whether hydrogen and oxygen gases origi
 nate from pre-existing H+ and OH- ions\, or from the direct reduction and 
 oxidation of H2O molecules. School textbooks in Korea all present the same
  account\, with no indication of alternative views. A vast majority of all
  texts ignore the possibility that H2 and O2 may result from secondary rea
 ctions\, which was a standard view in the late 19th century following the 
 works of Daniell and Miller. Concerning the electrolysis of aqueous salt s
 olutions\, all of the treatments we have found give oversimplified views o
 f competing reactions based on standard reduction/oxidation potentials. It
  is understandable that textbooks try to present sufficiently simple pictu
 res that students at each level can handle\; however\, this should not be 
 done in a way that shuts down questions. We believe that a judicious admis
 sion of complexity would be beneficial in encouraging students toward furt
 her learning and investigation.\n\nHasok Chang is the Hans Rausing Profess
 or of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge\, a
 nd holds one of the very prestigious British Academy/Wolfson Research Prof
 essorships. Katy Duncan is a PhD candidate in the Department of History an
 d Philosophy of Science\n
LOCATION:Donald McIntyre Building\, Faculty of Education\, 184 Hills Road\
 , Cambridge\, CB2 8PQ\, room 1S3
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