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electrolysis of water
Posted: 12 Jul 2021, 13:48
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?
Re: electrolysis of water
Posted: 12 Jul 2021, 15:43
by Milo
It needs some ions I think, for conductivity. We use 6% sulfuric acid in our voltameter.
Re: electrolysis of water
Posted: 13 Jul 2021, 08:30
by melsid
We use a strong sulfuric acid
Re: electrolysis of water
Posted: 16 Jul 2021, 09:11
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!
Re: electrolysis of water
Posted: 16 Jul 2021, 12:05
by Milo
Hmm that's odd! Try turning up the voltage, or cleaning the electrodes?
Re: electrolysis of water
Posted: 16 Jul 2021, 12:24
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
Do be careful if cleaning electrodes as they are generally platinum leaf and very expensive to replace if you tear them ......around $60 IIRC
Re: electrolysis of water
Posted: 16 Jul 2021, 13:31
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.
Re: electrolysis of water
Posted: 02 May 2023, 10:35
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.
Re: electrolysis of water
Posted: 03 May 2023, 17:53
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 .