Faraday constant

In physics and chemistry, the Faraday constant is the amount of electric charge per mole of electrons. The Faraday constant was named after British scientist Michael Faraday, and is widely used in calculations in electrochemistry.

It has the symbol F, and is related to the charge on an individual electron by

$F=N_{A}e$,

where N_A is Avogadro's number (approximately 6.02×10²³ mole⁻¹) and e is the elementary charge, the magnitude of the charge on an electron (approximately 1.602×10⁻¹⁹ coulombs per electron).

The value of F was first determined by weighing the amount of silver deposited in an electrochemical reaction in which a measured current was passed for a measured time. Research is continuing into more accurate ways of determining F, and thereby N_A. [Source: 2006 NIST Codata [1]]

F = 96 485.3399 (24) coulomb/mole

See also

• Michael Faraday
• Faraday's law of Electromagnetic induction
• Faraday's law of electrolysis

References

Peter J. Mohr, and Barry N. Taylor, CODATA Recommended Values of the Fundamental Physical Constants: 2002, Rev. Mod. Phys. vol. 77(1) 1-107 (2005)