In this Secondary 2 Chemistry blog post, we\u2019ll walk through a multiple-choice question on electrolysis, a concept that may seem tricky at first.<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll break the word down and work through how you can use the meaning of the word to help you solve this question!<\/p>\n
Alternatively, you can also watch our explainer video<\/a> for free by visiting our YouTube channel!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: Hougang Secondary School \u2013 2017 S2NA SA2 Examination Paper [Q8]<\/span><\/em> The question wants us to choose which among the options best describes electrolysis.<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n The word \u201celectrolysis\u201d can be split into two parts:<\/p>\n In more scientific terms, \u201clysis\u201d means breaking down or decomposing.<\/p>\n To answer this question, we need to find the reaction where electricity is used to break something down<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBroken down\u201d is another word for decomposition.<\/p>\n When you see the word \u201cheat\u201d in a question, think of thermal decomposition<\/strong>, a reaction where a substance breaks down when heated.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is the only option that mentions electricity<\/span> and tells us that copper chloride is broken down<\/span>. <\/p>\n This means that it is the correct answer<\/span>, but let\u2019s go through the remaining options to confirm our answer!<\/p>\n This is not<\/strong> an electrolysis reaction. This is an acid-metal<\/strong> reaction!<\/p>\n \ud83d\udca1\u00a0Let\u2019s Recap<\/strong> \ud83d\udca1<\/p>\n Acids react with metals to give us salt and hydrogen gas.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In this case, since the acid is hydrochloric acid<\/strong>, the salt name should end with chloride<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The first part of the salt name comes from the metal, which is copper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n So the salt should be copper chloride<\/strong>.<\/p>\n If you take a look at this option again, does it say that copper chloride is formed?<\/p>\n No, it says copper oxide<\/strong>, which is incorrect because acid-metal reaction, specifically when we react copper with hydrochloric acid, should get copper chloride as the salt.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is the name of the reaction? This is simply oxidation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n But the question is asking us about electrolysis.<\/p>\n So this is also incorrect!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Option (2)<\/strong> is the correct answer \u2705<\/p>\n It\u2019s the only option that uses electricity<\/strong> to break down<\/strong> a substance, just like what electrolysis means!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I hope that after reading this blog post, you\u2019ve learnt that when you come across unfamiliar terms in Science, you can try to break them down into smaller parts. This can make them easier to understand. Sometimes, the meaning of the term itself can even give you clues to help solve the question.<\/p>\n “Electrolysis” when broken down into 2 parts, becomes easier when you understand:<\/p>\n \u2018Electro\u2019 means electricity<\/strong>, and \u2018lysis\u2019 means breaking down<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In this case, only Option (2) matches what we\u2019re looking for: Electricity is used to break down a substance.<\/p>\n Stay tuned for more Chemistry blog posts!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row disabled_on=”off|off|off” admin_label=”CCI” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ custom_margin=”0px||” custom_padding=”0px||” saved_tabs=”all” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_divider color=”#898989″ admin_label=”Divider” _builder_version=”4.16″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/The-Pique-Lab-CCI-Science-Course-CTA.png” align=”center” align_tablet=”center” align_phone=”” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” admin_label=”CCI” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ z_index_tablet=”500″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#333333″ text_font_size=”18px” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n If you like our methodology, we’ve some upcoming workshops:<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ text_font=”geomanist-medium||||||||” text_text_color=”#f44a4a” text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”2em” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n S1 Complete Concept Integration\u2122 Physics Course<\/strong><\/a> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In this article, we will be analysing a question on Chemical Changes from the 2017 Hougang Secondary School (HSS) S2NA SA2 Examination Paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":246542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50,83,82],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"modified_by":"Jaimie Aberia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246539"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246601,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246539\/revisions\/246601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246539"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=246539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/maxresdefault-3-1-1024x576.webp\")
<\/a><\/p>\nRead Also:<\/h3>\n
\n
Let’s Take A Look At This Chemistry Question<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Chemical-Changes-Which-Reaction-Best-Describes-Electrolysis-02-1024x362.png\")
<\/p>\n
<\/em><\/p>\nBreaking Down The Term ‘Electrolysis’<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Chemical-Changes-Which-Reaction-Best-Describes-Electrolysis-03.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
Let’s Analyse Option (1)<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Chemical-Changes-Which-Reaction-Best-Describes-Electrolysis-04.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Chemical-Changes-Which-Reaction-Best-Describes-Electrolysis-05.png\")
<\/p>\nLet’s Analyse Option (2)<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Chemical-Changes-Which-Reaction-Best-Describes-Electrolysis-06.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Chemical-Changes-Which-Reaction-Best-Describes-Electrolysis-07.png\")
<\/p>\nLet\u2019s Analyse Option (3)<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Chemical-Changes-Which-Reaction-Best-Describes-Electrolysis-08.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Chemical-Changes-Which-Reaction-Best-Describes-Electrolysis-09.png\")
<\/p>\nLet’s Analyse Option (4)<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Chemical-Changes-Which-Reaction-Best-Describes-Electrolysis-11.png\")
<\/p>\nSuggested Answer<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
S1 Complete Concept Integration\u2122 Chemistry Course<\/strong><\/a>
S2 Complete Concept Integration\u2122 Science Course<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n