From: SFPhysics@aol.com
Date: Tue Mar 30 2004 - 02:23:33 PST
From: SFPhysics@aol.com Message-ID: <1de.1bfcccfa.2d9aa4a5@aol.com> Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 05:23:33 EST Subject: Electroylsis of Water
Treena:
Dr. Paul is correct in telling you not to use NaCl (sodium chloride) for the
electrolyte solution. The salt breaks down first into sodium in one test tube
while chlorine is released in the second tube. The sodium reacts with the
water molecules to give sodium hydroxide and hydrogen is liberated. Over in the
other test tube the chlorine being highly soluble in water is going into
solution. If you were using a cheap copper electrode it was likely turning green
from reacting with the chlorine. By changing to H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) the
water will conduct so that hydrogen is produced on one electrode while oxygen
goes to the other. Try the same setup as before but change the electrolyte.
Water breaks down at a higher potential than sodium chloride so the new solution
may require more voltage potential than your original setup if you only used
one cell.
Good luck,
Al Sefl
Who thinks electrolyte is water with less calories....
And may be all wet on the above information since this was from a 1957
science fair project... before Sputnik even.... ;-)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Mon Aug 02 2004 - 12:05:36 PDT