How to make Hydrogen

Step 4 Starting the reaction

1. 1/3 fill the bottle with water
2. Watch the reaction go.

The reaction takes a while to start however, within seconds the water will be almost boiling(this is an extremely exothermic reaction).If the reaction gets too hot most of the gas released will be Steam(which is pretty much useless).In order to slow the reaction tip water on the sizes of the bottle or place the bottle in a water bath.On the other hand if the reaction is to slow you may need to make sure that you add more aluminum and NaOH next time.

I have also included a video of the reaction bubbling away for your interest.