Separate Hydrogen and Oxygen from Water Through Electrolysis

Step 2 Materials

****DISCLAIMER**** You are putting electricity into water. It has the potential to be dangerous. Do so at your own risk. Be smart about it. If you wouldn't touch it with your hands don't stick it in the water. If you're worried about it wearing rubber gloves will give some extra insulation. ****DISCLAIMER****

****DISCLAIMER**** Hydrogen is highly flammable and explosive (think Hindenburg). The amount we're making isn't extremely dangerous, but be careful. Flying shards of glass are never fun.****DISCLAIMER****

Separating Hydrogen and oxygen from water is really simple. It can be as easy as sticking two wires leading from a battery into water and watching the bubbles form. We however want to collect all the little bubbles, so its just slightly more complicated.

Things you will need:

@ (1) Med.Container - To hold water. Preferably clear so you can see whats going on.
@ (1 or 2) Gas Collecting Containers - A test tube, or an old soda bottle like me. Also clear. 2 if you want to collect both the hydrogen and the oxygen
@ (1) Power Source - I use a 12v 1000mA adapter, 9v batteries (in a series) and other sources work too. Bigger the power source, faster the bubbles form.
@ (2) Graphite Electrodes - Optional. You can stick a bare wire into the water, but it corrodes pretty quick. You can pull them out of a 6v Lantern Battery
@ Salt
@ Water

Comments

[smartguy2]

What size battery should I use to make hydrogen?

[amos33]

It takes 2 volts and .02 amps to split water molecules.

[bylerfamily]

9v.

[lukeyj15]

Try to use a power source instead of a battery. Doing this will drain the battery pretty fast

[El Mano]

I "adjusted" the power cord from a walkie-talkie charge port to use for my unit, but it is an AC adaptor (120v to 9v). I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but I don't know much about electronic thingamajigs, so I'll ask anyway: will this power cord produce DC when plugged in to the wall? If not, when I run AC through brine will hydrogen still form at one electrode, leaving oxygen to bubble at the other?

[lukeyj15]

The short answer to both of these is no. Running AC through brine will cause the anode to change into the cathode and vice versa about 60 times a second causing the production of hydrogen to be interrupted because the hydrogen will only form on one or the other, not both

[El Mano]

Where can I get an AC to DC convereter that I can plug in to an outlet?

[lukeyj15]

Look for an adapter that says 120v AC in And (Insert Voltage Here) v DC on the back

[johnip]

6 months late, but the adapter from the walkie talkie will be AC-DC converter. It will work. It's the same kind of thing the author is using for his. Electronics don't run off AC power.

[cmcnabb]

I made this experiment about 20 yrs ago for a science project @ school & won a chemistry award!! I managed to save this over the years & now my son is using it in high school chemistry class....I'm one prous mom!!

[neaj]

what type or kind of wire can i use? I want to try this experiment myself.

[legomaster92]

You can use copper wire I did this same project

[FRED MAXEY]

If you need to make this on a large scale, you need distilled water or deionized water, also you will need a di agent for conductivity.
FM

[teche]

one dangerous way to get graphite is open up a really cheap brand of battery such as radio shack or other supermarket brand batteries.

[squiggy2]

You can also get an eveready 6(?) volt battery - on of those GIANT square ones, and they just have four D Cell batteries (like the ones above) in them :P

[seabeepirate]

Alright, I want to make sure I've got this right... current is more important than voltage correct? I've got a 9 volt 1 amp transformer, and it seems to be working pretty well. if I do this with an open container and don't try to capture the hydrogen would it be possible to ignite the hydrogen right off the top of the container?

[daddyo44907]

In an open container (neither electrodes gas being captured) the H and the O bubbles will mix on their way to the surface (considering the construction). You will be able to ignite the gases. They will make a popping sound, or a crack. Play it safe, wear goggles, you do not want electrolyte in your eyes; and do not use a glass container - it may shatter. The results greatly depend on how much HHO you are making. Overall, it is not advisable to make a game out of igniting bubbles. It is hydrogen you are making; it will burn; and when mixed with oxygen, it is an explosive gas. You will find that you have to put the flame very close to the water in order to get it to pop. The reason is -- the hydrogen does not stick around. It is headed up and out. -- fast. It makes it to the ceiling faster than you can say Jack Frost.

[bylerfamily]

Yes if you hold a match above the positive wire.

[daddyo44907]

Go back and read. He said "open container". In an open container, the gases mix on their way to the surface. The lighter hydrogen bubbles join with the slower moving oxygen bubbles. They get trapped inside.

[burdockwing]

on that thing you plug into the wall wich side is posative?

[Alpha Bravo]

Of the two wires one will usually have a solid or dashed stripe on it, this is the negative lead. In the image above you can see the left half has the solid white stripe facing us.

[CantDIY]

Would filtered water be better than tap water to try and get some one the bits and pieces that could be in the tap water?

[CyborgGold]

Actually, the more pure the water, the less conductive it becomes. Think of it this way, tap water contains some metals and other highly conductive particulates. These particulates are better at conducting electricity than water, so removing them reduces the overall conductivity. If you are really interested in this, look into HHO generators (which this is a tiny version of.) The more you research on how it works the more you will understand how important your electrolyte (water + conductive substances) really is, it can make or break your generator's efficiency.

[iSkilled]

Very important Q here. ; ) What can you use as a power source? I'm not really a tech kind of person. I want to use a 9V battery. Do I have to use an outlet or something? I have a battery charger, if that helps at all...

[bylerfamily]

You could use a 9v.That is what I used the first time I made hydrogen.But now I use a 4 volt battery charger.

[ecks51]

(removed by author or community request)

[triggernum5]

There is speculation that the paint used actually constituted thermite and was ignited.. Mythbusters actually surprised me by recreating that possibility..

[El Mano]

What about thermite?

[lukeyj15]

GO MYTHBUSTERS!!!

[BlowgunSniper88]

Then what was burning so furiously? I heard they painted it with thermite, but the footage didn't look like a thermite reaction to me...

[geeklord]

Hey!, I got an idea! Lets paint a hydrogen (flammable) filled ballon with rocket fuel(highly flammable)!!!Somebody noticed this when they were making it right?

[sdaw]

pencil lead works as a graphite conductor. why does the water need to be salted?

[arhodes18]

it needs to be salted because the salt acts as a catalyst and helps to separate the two gasses... i would suggest using something like baking soda though, because i have heard that using salt may create chlorine gas due to the chlorine in the salt....

[sdaw]

i am relatively sure that if you put electricity through a salt water, you get chlorine gas, which is bad and can kill you

[arhodes18]

ya, that is what i was kind of thinking...

[triggernum5]

Salt is a loose term.. NaCl used in the electrolyte will evolve primarily Cl2 rather than O2 at the anode.. No more dangerous than being near bleach until the current gets decently high for your space.. Hydrogen & Chlorine will react violently to form HCl as well.. NaOH (a salt) on the otherhand will evolve HHO (as will many others).. Its probably the best basic salt to use

[arhodes18]

oh, i see...

[triggernum5]

And yea baking soda (another salt) will evolve O2 like sodium hydroxide (lye) but it won't conduct as well as lye..

[arhodes18]

oh ok, because i have done this before and used baking soda instead of table salt, and it worked, but not quite as good as table salt.

[triggernum5]

The active ingredient in Easy Off is sodium hydroxide..