What are electroplating?

Answer 1

1) Acid solution containing salts of the metal to be electroplated

2) The piece to be electroplated is the anode and will have the negative charge.

3) The positive side will be the same metal that will be doing the plating.

I used 6Volt Dry Cell battery and wired a section of 5/8" copper pipe long enough to fit.

The item I chose to copperplate was a multi-tool blade long since separated from its host

I filled a large glass jar with Hydrochloric Acid and disintegrated a large coil of copper wire.

With the HCl loaded with Cu, I placed the copper pipe wired to the positive side into it.

The stainless steel knife blade to be electroplated was wired to the negative side.

Lastly I introduce the (Knife blade = anode = negative pole of battery) to the metal acid.

Vigorous bubbling occurs as Hydrogen is liberated into gas and the stainless steel begins to go in to solution with the chlorine. The copper will meanwhile be going onto the spot where the stainless steel was.

This happens because the Cu(2) ion is looking for two electrons which just happen to be coming out of the negative terminal of the battery through my knife blade.