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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1997
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The_Epic_Interactive_Encyclopedia_97.iso
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electrochemistry
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1992-09-02
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The branch of science that studies chemical
reactions involving electricity. The use of
electricity to produce chemical effects,
electrolysis, is employed in many industrial
processes, such as the manufacture of
chlorine and the extraction of aluminium. The
use of chemical reactions to produce
electricity is the basis of batteries, such
as the dry cell and the Leclanche cell. Since
all chemical reactions involve changes to the
electron structure of atoms, all reactions
are now recognized as electrochemical in
nature. Oxidation, for example, was once
defined as a process in which oxygen was
combined with a substance, or hydrogen was
removed from a compound; it is now defined as
a process in which electrons are lost.