Lacking any other plausible explanation, the anomalous excess heat produced during such electrolysis was attributed by Pons and Fleischmann to cold fusion. Later, it was discovered that such excess heat can easily be the product of conventional chemistry, i.e. internal recombination of hydrogen and oxygen. Such recombination leads to a reduction in the Faraday efficiency of the electrolysis. The Faraday-efficiency effect is the observation of anomalous excess heat due to a reduction in the Faraday efficiency.