WHAT ELECTROCHEMISTRY IS ACCOMPLISHING.1 
By Josrra W. RicHarps, 
Professor of Metallurgy, Lehigh University. 
My theme is to depict for you, as clearly as I may be able, the part 
which electrochemistry is playing in modern industrial processes. 
T have no exhaustive catalogue of electrochemical processes to present, 
nor columns of statistics of these industries; but my object will be 
to classify the various activities of electrochemists and to analyze 
the scope of the electrochemical industries. 
SCOPE OF ELECTROCHEMISTRY AND ELECTROMETALLURGY. 
Chemistry is the science which investigates the composition of 
substances and studies changes of composition and reactions of 
substances upon each other. As an applied science, it deals chiefly 
with the working over of crude natural material, and its conversion 
into more valuable and more useful substances. | 
Some common examples, to illustrate this statement, are the 
conversion of native sulphur into sulphuric acid, the manufacture of 
soda and hydrochloric acid from common salt, the conversion of 
phosphate rock into superphosphate fertilizer, etc. Several pages 
would not suffice to merely catalogue the great variety of chemical 
industries; immense amounts_of capital are invested in them and 
they are some of the most fundamental industries in their relation to 
supplying the needs of a rapidly advancing civilization. 
Metallurgy is the art of extracting metals from their ores, and of 
purifying or refinmg them to the quality required by the metal- 
working industries. It is a branch of applied chemistry. The 
metallurgical industries form a highly important part of our national 
resources; on them we depend for iron, steel, copper, brass, gold, 
silver, lead, zinc, aluminum, etc., in fact for all the supply of metals 
used in arts and industry. 
Electrochemistry is the art of applying electrical energy to facilitat- 
ing the work of the chemist. It is chemistry helped by electricity. 
It is the use of a new agency in accomplishing chemical operations, 
and it has not only succeeded in facilitating many of the most difficult 
1 An address delivered at the seventeenth general meeting of the American Electrochemical Society, in 
Pittsburgh, Pa., May 7, 1910, President L. H. Baekeland in the chair. Reprinted by permission from the 
Transactions of the American Electrochemical Society,vol. 17, 1910, being the transactions of the seventeenth 
general meeting, at Pittsburgh, Pa., May 4-7, 1910. In the presentation of this paper Prof. Richards 
showed a large number of lantern slides illustrating electrochemical works in operation. 
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