electrolysis of water

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KassH
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electrolysis of water

Post by KassH »

Hi hope everyone is safe and well after NSW school holidays.

Quick question - what do I add to the water to speed up electrolysis?
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Milo
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Re: electrolysis of water

Post by Milo »

It needs some ions I think, for conductivity. We use 6% sulfuric acid in our voltameter.
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melsid
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Re: electrolysis of water

Post by melsid »

We use a strong sulfuric acid
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KassH
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Re: electrolysis of water

Post by KassH »

Thanks I'll give it a go. The ones in youtube videos always seem to crack along at pace. Ours makes a bubble about every 2 mins!
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Milo
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Re: electrolysis of water

Post by Milo »

Hmm that's odd! Try turning up the voltage, or cleaning the electrodes?
bigmack
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Re: electrolysis of water

Post by bigmack »

Ours had a Texta scribbled on saying "use 4M H2SO4" .
Last time I just used 1M H2SO4 and it worked just as fast . Agree with Milo , crank it .We run ours on 12Volts .

On a light note , one day, student noticed the Texta instructions and told teacher "it was bullshit, your not splitting water , its sulfuric acid in there " LOL they don't miss a trick .

So teacher made me clean off the Texta :cheesy:

Do be careful if cleaning electrodes as they are generally platinum leaf and very expensive to replace if you tear them ......around $60 IIRC
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KassH
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Job Title: Lab Tech
School: SPC KMPSY
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Re: electrolysis of water

Post by KassH »

Thanks bigmack, I got the texta out and marked it on there. Will wait and see if there are any kids switched on enough to notice!
I also put the electrodes in test tubes to protect them. They are a bit bent up but still shiny, attached and no rips in them.
I had the voltage up on 12V. It took all day to get a decent amount of gas with no H2SO4 in the water. Will try again with 1M when I get some spare time.
RosalieL
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Re: electrolysis of water

Post by RosalieL »

Do you plug into the AC or DC power supply? Neither seem to be working! 12V with H2SO4. I've cut and stripped the wires on the platinum electrodes as they looked a bit broken and rusty but that hasn't made a difference.
bigmack
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Re: electrolysis of water

Post by bigmack »

Sounds like there is a break in one of the electrodes Rosalie .
When its working , there should be a fury of bubbles coming off each electrode . It looks like fizzy drink .

Can you check the continuity between the platinum and the bare copper wire on both .A multimeter or simply a light bulb and a power supply .

Be careful using AC .If it is working , you would end up with an explosive gas in each tube .

Hoffman Voltameter should only be used on DC .
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