Question

If you want to coat a sliver spoon with gold, how will you do it by electroplating? How will you arrange the materials?

Answer 1

gold is placed in anode and silver spoon in the cathode

Answer 2

Electroplating is a process which produces a very thin coating of expensive metals on the surfaces of cheaper metals, in order to give them the appearance and the chemical resistance of the expensive ones. Electroplating of silver and gold is usually done in electrolytic cells.

For electroplating of a silver spoon with a gold covering, a gold anode and an electrolyte containing gold cyanide, AuCN is used. The object to be plated which is the silver spoon, is made from the cathode of an electrolytic cell.

When a direct current is passed through the cell, the cyanide ion, CN⁻ reacts with gold ion, Au⁺, to form the complex ion Au(CN)⁻. This limits the supply of free Au⁺ ions in the solution, so they can deposit themselves only very gradually onto the cathode. This produces a shinier and more adherent gold plating.