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Electrolysis of water as a school science project




Q. I have an experiment with electrolysis to separate water into its parts-2 hydrogen for every 1 oxygen- but I can't count the amount of bubbles for the 2 parts. Is there someone out there with an other experiment that works better? Please, I'm desperate.(O:}

Scott B [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- Saginaw Michigan
2001



A. Scott, I've been out of high school since long before you were born, but as I recall . . .

You put two glass jars into the electrolyte in the experiment pan, and fill them with the electrolyte liquid. Then, keeping the open end down, you position them over the two electrodes. The hydrogen and oxygen rise into the bottles and are captured, driving the liquid out of the bottles.

It should be pretty easy to see which bottle has collected twice as much gas, but you confirm it by putting a glowing splint into the oxygen and watch it flame up, and you light the hydrogen and listen to it pop.

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2001



A. Have you experimented with square wave pulses to the terminals to split the water molecule in a much faster and cheaper way?

Steve Fraser
- UK
November 6, 2009




2003

⇦ (tip: readers rarely show interest in abstract questions, but people's actual situations usually prompt responses)   smiley face

Q. I am planning to do a project in electrolysis of water for generating hydrogen. What my question is is how to store (with compression) hydrogen evolved from electrolysis process without using compressors.

P.KARTHIKEYAN
STUDENT - ANNA UNIVERSITY - CHENNAI, TAMILNADU, India




A. Hi P. Can you be more explicit on your needs and restrictions? I'm afraid as it stands you've posed an oxymoron because whatever you use to compress it is a compressor :-)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey




Multiple threads were merged: please forgive repetition, chronology errors, or disrespect towards other postings [they weren't on the same page] :-)



Q. I would like find out how I can perform electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen and oxygen? It is for a science fair experiment and I don't even know where to begin, can anyone give me some information about how to this and what I can talk about in a report about this experiment?

Janina B. [minor's last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
student - Miami, Florida, United States
2003


A. You are asking someone else to do your work. Life does not work that way very often, and normally only after you have done some home work. No knowledge. Why not start with a dictionary. Follow that up with an encyclopedia. Follow that up with a high school chemistry book or lab experiment book. Then you can hit the internet for exotic permutations to your experiment. Then you can ask for specific help.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2003



"Electricity and Electronics"
by Bonnet & Kean

on AbeBooks

or Amazon

(affil links)

A. The simplest way is to connect two copper wires to a small 9V battery (the type you can buy in supermarkets for smoke detectors,radios etc) and put the other two ends into some water that contains a pinch of washing soda [on eBay or Amazon] (literally a few crystals). One of the copper ends will produce oxygen and the other hydrogen. Which is which? - You tell us. You can refine the technique by using a split cell, such as two burettes joined together near the base and with electrodes stuck into them.

trevor crichton
Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
2003


A. Some good sites can be found at Google. Just try to go to www.google.com When you are there just search for-- Electrolysis of Water You will probably get 20 different sites with 4-8 grade level projects.

Christopher G. [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- Loveland, Colorado, USA
2003




A. Hi, folks.

Trevor's instructions are good, but it can be a nice idea to capture those gases that he describes. A pretty standard way to do that is to put glass bottles into your tank, let them fill up to the brim with your water and washing soda [on eBay or Amazon] solution, then turn them upside down (open end down) positioned over or around your electrodes. As the gas bubbles that you are generating rise, they will be captured in your bottles. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey




Q. I want to remove the hardness of water by electrolysis. Is there a way to remove the salt content in the water by electrolysis. My experiment of electrolysis of water by copper electrodes resulted in the formation of copper sulphate [on eBay or Amazon]only.

Manoj Kumar
- Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
May 10, 2009




March 12, 2013

⇦ (tip: readers rarely show interest in abstract questions, but people's actual situations usually prompt responses)   smiley face

Q. WHAT IS THE BEST EFFICIENT WAY TO SPLIT WATER TO GAIN HYDROGEN FROM SEA WATER BY ELECTROLYSIS OTHER THAN USING PLATINUM ELECTRODE?

PRAVEEN KUMAR
- CHENNAI, TAMILNADU, India



A. Hi Praveen. Please spend a couple of paragraphs introducing yourself and your situation. We don't know if you are a pre-teen student looking for a quick work-around because platinum electrodes are expensive, or if you are a post doc who has spent years in this field optimizing the electrolysis of hydrogen and feels that platinum isn't efficient enough. Thanks for your understanding.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
March 2013




How to find oxygen evolution efficiency of seawater electrolysis

March 8, 2014

⇦ (tip: readers rarely show interest in abstract questions, but people's actual situations usually prompt responses)   smiley face

Q. Hi, Please tell me anyone how can I find out oxygen evolution efficiency by seawater electrolysis?

K Kishor
iit k - kanpur, uttar pradesh, India


A. Hi Kishor. The shorter the question, the harder it is to answer usually -- so if you spend a paragraph or two clarifying your question, I'm sure we can answer you better :-)

I don't know if you are seeking a textbook with the answer, some references to real world installations and the results they achieve, or an experimental procedure you can try. And I'm not sure if you impart the same meaning as I do to the word "efficiency" -- to me it's a comparison of the actual amount of oxygen liberated by electrolysis compared to the prediction from Faraday's Law of Electrolysis.

96485 coulombs (ampere-seconds) of electricity will liberate one gram equivalent weight of oxygen if the process is 100% efficient. So try your electrolysis experiment, recording the current and time, and capturing the oxygen in an inverted glass bottle. From its weight or volume, determine the quantity you captured, and compare it to the amount predicted by Faraday's Law. Good luck.!

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
March 2014




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