Think of it like an electrolysis factory where table salt dissolved in water is zapped with electricity, acting like a chemical sorting machine that separates the mixture into useful industrial products: bleach components (chlorine) and soap components (sodium hydroxide).

Remember 'CHLOR-ALKALI' as: Chlorine from Anode, Alkali ($\text{NaOH}$) from Cathode!

When electricity is passed through an aqueous solution of sodium chloride (known as brine, $\text{NaCl}$), it decomposes to form sodium hydroxide, chlorine gas, and hydrogen gas. At the anode, chloride ions are oxidized to release chlorine gas ($2\text{Cl}^- \rightarrow \text{Cl}_2 + 2\text{e}^-$), while at the cathode, water molecules are reduced to produce hydrogen gas and hydroxide ions ($2\text{H}_2\text{O} + 2\text{e}^- \rightarrow \text{H}_2 + 2\text{OH}^-$). Sodium ions ($Na^+$) combine with hydroxide ions ($OH^-$) in the solution to form sodium hydroxide ($\text{NaOH}$).

Always remember that the electrolysis of aqueous sodium chloride produces NaOH, Cl2, and H2, whereas molten NaCl electrolysis produces sodium metal and chlorine gas.