Electrochemical dualism is an

obsolete scientific theory This list catalogs well-accepted theories in science and pre-scientific natural philosophy and natural history which have since been superseded by scientific theories. Many discarded explanations were once supported by a scientific consensus, b ...

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

relevant between around 1800 and around 1830 and pioneered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius.''Jöns Jacob Berzelius'', Richard A. Pizzi, Today's Chemist At Work, 2004, page 58 The theory held that all molecules are salts composed of basic and acidic oxides. The compound

potassium sulphate Potassium sulfate (US) or potassium sulphate (UK), also called sulphate of potash (SOP), arcanite, or archaically potash of sulfur, is the inorganic compound with formula K2SO4, a white water-soluble solid. It is commonly used in fertilizers, prov ...

for example was viewed as a salt of K₂O and SO₃. Berzelius based his theory on investigations he conducted in collaboration with

Wilhelm Hisinger Wilhelm Hisinger (23 December 1766 – 28 June 1852) was a Swedish physicist and chemist who in 1807, working in coordination with Jöns Jakob Berzelius, noted that in electrolysis any given substance always went to the same pole, and that substan ...

on certain salts with the newly discovered

voltaic pile upright=1.2, Schematic diagram of a copper–zinc voltaic pile. The copper and zinc discs were separated by cardboard or felt spacers soaked in salt water (the electrolyte). Volta's original piles contained an additional zinc disk at the bottom, ...

. They observed that many compounds could be decomposed by an electric current in an acidic component at the positive pole and a basic component at the negative pole. The theory was ultimately challenged and made redundant by

radical theory Radical theory is an obsolete scientific theory in chemistry describing the structure of organic compounds. The theory was pioneered by Justus von Liebig, Friedrich Wöhler and Auguste Laurent around 1830 and is not related to the modern understand ...

References

Obsolete scientific theories Electrochemistry {{electrochem-stub