After doing Activity 5 (electroplating a spoon with copper), a student interchanged the connections of the copper plate and the spoon. What do you think will happen now?

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Solution

If a student interchanges between the copper wire and the spoon during electroplating, the copper ions deposited on the spoon will move back to their place of origin.
The plating can be removed but not without some damage to the plated object. It will be much less damaged than it is now though. The easiest way to do it is reverse electrolysis.
Reverse electroplating is also useful for recovering other metals.

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