science fun

[DYNAGOD]

Came across this while searching aimlessly.
with nothing more than a 9 volt battery and two pencils you can make extract hydrogen and oxygen from water.

nmsea.org link

useless, but fun

ill take one of these as well. 
carolina.com link

[Dartful Dodger]

Very useless indeed, but I'll have to try it.

[abrannan]

You guys didn't do that experiment in elementary school?  Sad.

[DYNAGOD]

hey, if can harvest enough to light it off and blow the cover off ill be happy..
just the thought of getting something flammable out of a glass of water is pretty damn cool imho.

[stevejt]

Came across this while searching aimlessly.
with nothing more than a 9 volt battery and two pencils you can make extract hydrogen and oxygen from water.

If I remember corectly:

Pure water DOES not conduct electricity very well,(almost not at all).  Tap water is full of other minerals so it does conduct slightly better.  Salt is added as a catalist to help the water conduct.  ADDING SALT TO THE WATER CAUSES CHLORINE GAS TO BE PRODUCED INSTEAD OF OXYGEN.  Chlorine gas is dangerous.  I don't know why so many pages on the internet give false information.  If salt is used as the catylist, O2 is NOT produced.  If you don't beleive me, than you probably also beleive that oxygen is "flammable".

Steve

[Mameotron]

You are correct, but the idea is NOT for water to conduct electricity.

[stevejt]

This setup looks pretty harmless, but you've got to be sure you keep the hydrogen and oxygen separated.  The hydrogen can ignite, and in an oxygen-rich atmosphere the reaction can be surprisingly violent.

I thought it was weird they had both gasses going into the same container too.

But like I said, with the addition of salt, alot more chlorine will be produced than oxygen.

Steve

[Dartful Dodger]

I thought it was weird they had both gasses going into the same container too.

But like I said, with the addition of salt, alot more chlorine will be produced than oxygen.

Aren't the two gasses coming out of the same container?

Any experiment that involves the words "can ignite", and "surprisingly violent" is an experiment I need to try.

[DYNAGOD]

my plan tomorrow is to snag a box of #2 pencils after work and create a grid of graphite rods arranged like so

o o o o o o o o o
o o o o o o o o o     +



o o o o o o o o o
o o o o o o o o o     -

about this long each

H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H

and embed them in a non conductive form like a thin stiff carboard sheet,
the increased surface area should give more area for bubbles to form and thus be released.


you can seperate the two gasses quite simply.you can sperate the electrodes to seperate,though shared resevoirs. and have a 16 oz bottle style lid on each side, but instead of a cap stretch  balloons over them.


                                       

[Bones]

That's where I saw the Leprechaun. He tells me to burn things.

[DYNAGOD]

Making fire from water.hmmmm.this kind of <auto-censored> would have gotten you burned at the stake not too long ago..

[DYNAGOD]

basically two of these..should be interesting...

[Mameotron]

And when you're done there, try this out!!

http://www.eskimo.com/~ghawk/h-o/

[lucindrea]

the way to collect the 2 gasses would be to use a U shaped tube with water in it , put 1 electrode on one side the other on the other side , this way the 2 gasses dont mix.


i allways thought it was kind of cool how stuff like this happens in nature ..

clorine and sodium , both highly toxic , but put them together and you get salt , somthing all life needs

hydrogen and oxygen , o2 is needed for any fire and H burns really well , but together and you somthing that puts out fires ...

anyone else think of more like this?

[Bones]

the way to collect the 2 gasses would be to use a U shaped tube with water in it , put 1 electrode on one side the other on the other side , this way the 2 gasses dont mix.


i allways thought it was kind of cool how stuff like this happens in nature ..

clorine and sodium , both highly toxic , but put them together and you get salt , somthing all life needs

hydrogen and oxygen , o2 is needed for any fire and H burns really well , but together and you somthing that puts out fires ...

anyone else think of more like this?

Alcohol is highly flammable and a good curry will burn your cornhole for hours. But put them together and you have an extremely happy drunk. Yeah, stuff like that is weird......

[DrewKaree]

Alcohol is highly flammable and a good curry will burn your cornhole for hours. But put them together and you have an extremely happy drunk. Yeah, stuff like that is weird......

                                                            

[stevejt]

the increased surface area should give more area for bubbles to form and thus be released.

With out changing the power of the electric source, you will ge the same amount of bubbles. (you will get more, but smaller.  SAME VOLUME of gas)  If you want more bubbles, you need to change the catylist.  Salt is NOT good for this.  It does work, but it is not good.  Adding acid is best for this.  Keyword:ACID  burns, eyes, skin and clothes, BUT can be FUN if used carefully.  There are local stores that sell acid if anyone is serious about doing this.  You wouldn't beleive how easy it is available if you know where to look.  I will not list where though.  And if anyone tried igniting hydrogen and oxygen, (you won't get O2 if using salt), it will "react" with 50 times more force than if you, say lighted a container with just propane.  Be careful... 

Steve

[Hoagie_one]

add a squirt of lemon juice...makes teh current travel better.  did this in junior high

[danny_galaga]

oh, i did this when i was in PRIMARY school! wasn't curriculum, was given a science book by my next door neighbour (and tying in with current arguments, she was deeply christian) good fun, cos it was so cool to ignite the hydrogen afterwards! my setup separated the gases though.

another fun one was using salt water as an electrolyte and copper and aluminium as cathode and anode. generates a not inconsiderable amount of electricity. slightly modified in reverse you can do a bit of (very dodgy looking) electroplating 

[DYNAGOD]

my education was a farce..
we didnt even have books half the time and our teachers were worn out bitter old ---daisies---..

how about deoxygenated water?
would this yield a higher/lower/none hydrogen output.

[lucindrea]

deoxygenated is just water without free o2 in it ( the stuff fish depend on ) , water it's self is made of O2 and the electric current breaks the bond between the O2 and the H , so if you want to get technical
deoxygenated = Hydrogen   

the ratio is 2/1  H/O2  .. if you blow bbbles through the water to "re-oxyenate" it wont make a differance on the amount of gass produced via electrolisis.


my question is , is their a way to re-combine the O2 and the H ...

edit: err nm , burning H produces water