The amount of electric charge (quantity of electricity) passed through the cell can easily be determined by measuring the change in mass of either electrode and calculating:
where:
* is the quantity of electricity (coulombs)
* is the mass transported (gm)
* is the charge of the copper ions, equal to +2
* is the Faraday constant (96485.3383 coulombs per mole)
* is the atomic weight of copper, equal to 63.546 grams per mole.
Although this apparatus is interesting from a theoretical and historical point of view, present-day electronic measurement of time and electric current provide in their multiplication the amount of passed coulombs much easier, with greater precision, and in a shorter period of time than is possible by weighing the electrodes.