We will need copper sulphate and two copper plates of size around 10 cm x 4 cm. Take 250 ml. of distilled water in a clean and dry beaker. Dissolve two teaspoonfuls of copper sulphate in it. Add a few drops of dilute sulphuric acid to copper sulphate solution to make it more conducting. Clean copper plates with sand paper. Now rinse them with water and dry them. Connect the copper plates to the terminals of a battery and immerse them in copper sulphate solution Fig.
Allow the current to pass for about 15 minutes. Now remove the electrodes from the solution and look at them carefully. Do you find any difference in any one of them? Do you find a coating over it? What colour is the coating? Note down the terminal of the battery with which this electrode is connected.
After removing the electrodes from the solution, we find that copper metal gets deposited on the plate at the negative of the battery. It is concluded that when electric current is passed through the copper sulphate solution, copper sulphate dissociates into copper and sulphate. The free copper gets deposited on the plate acting as cathode. Gradually, a layer of copper builds up on the plate. This process is known as electroplating.