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CAUTION: this instructable involves the dismantlement of old batteries which will expose you to hazardous substances.
I f you must do this.. follow utmost caution, and wear protective eye gear
A simple rig for electroplating small objects.. like keys, jewelry etc..
Using easily available objects.. except for one chemical which should be available at a chemist/drugstore/hardware shop.
Brief history of when i did this-
Why don't they teach this stuff in school?
My best memory from school was when i was in class 7 or 8 in a school in Shillong(north east India). There was a chemistry assignment that had to be done. The teacher told us to do one of the handful of exercises that were in the textbook. Most of it was ridiculously inane stuff like the "graphite conducts electricity" one.. or the "make your own electric bell" one. Me and a friend decided to do something a bit more challenging..
so we picked the last one - "copper plating".
This was more of a paragraph in the chapter text than an actual exercise.. it just had a bare description of the copper plating process and the chemical reactions involved.
No wonder our teacher was skeptical about it and told us that we would probably flunk if we didn't do one of the more "reliable" exercises(the graphite one and the stupid electric bell)
Anyway dday arrived and after a really long hour during which each kid showed off their ridiculously identical and lame graphite conduction and electric bell projects it was our turn.
unfortunately we had only managed to secure one of the key ingredients(copper sulphate) that very day.. so we hadn't even tested the rig yet! but we didn't tell the teacher that. we confidently set up the rig on the floor next to her desk(i guess she was a bit concerned about the "toxicity" of the shimmering blue compound.
i dumped a key that i wanted plated, and a volunteer from the audience(we sort of felt like magicians doing a show) gave us some small metal thing(think it was a earring or something) and we flipped the switch.
in a few minutes the metal objects turned a flakey orange-yellow... APPLAUSE!
Why don't they teach this stuff in school?
I f you must do this.. follow utmost caution, and wear protective eye gear
A simple rig for electroplating small objects.. like keys, jewelry etc..
Using easily available objects.. except for one chemical which should be available at a chemist/drugstore/hardware shop.
Brief history of when i did this-
Why don't they teach this stuff in school?
My best memory from school was when i was in class 7 or 8 in a school in Shillong(north east India). There was a chemistry assignment that had to be done. The teacher told us to do one of the handful of exercises that were in the textbook. Most of it was ridiculously inane stuff like the "graphite conducts electricity" one.. or the "make your own electric bell" one. Me and a friend decided to do something a bit more challenging..
so we picked the last one - "copper plating".
This was more of a paragraph in the chapter text than an actual exercise.. it just had a bare description of the copper plating process and the chemical reactions involved.
No wonder our teacher was skeptical about it and told us that we would probably flunk if we didn't do one of the more "reliable" exercises(the graphite one and the stupid electric bell)
Anyway dday arrived and after a really long hour during which each kid showed off their ridiculously identical and lame graphite conduction and electric bell projects it was our turn.
unfortunately we had only managed to secure one of the key ingredients(copper sulphate) that very day.. so we hadn't even tested the rig yet! but we didn't tell the teacher that. we confidently set up the rig on the floor next to her desk(i guess she was a bit concerned about the "toxicity" of the shimmering blue compound.
i dumped a key that i wanted plated, and a volunteer from the audience(we sort of felt like magicians doing a show) gave us some small metal thing(think it was a earring or something) and we flipped the switch.
in a few minutes the metal objects turned a flakey orange-yellow... APPLAUSE!
Why don't they teach this stuff in school?
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1) atleast 3volts(2 AA batteries) for it to work well. will work with 1.5v(1 AA battery) too, but will be really slow. Will probably work really well with more power.
2) a carbon electrode. we got ours from an old battery. its the inner black colored core.
3) a copper electrode. we hammered a bit of copper wire till it was flat. a bit of copper tube might work too.
4) wires
5) a jar/beaker
6) water
7) copper sulphate. we ended up getting some from the chemistry lab.
2) a carbon electrode. we got ours from an old battery. its the inner black colored core.
3) a copper electrode. we hammered a bit of copper wire till it was flat. a bit of copper tube might work too.
4) wires
5) a jar/beaker
6) water
7) copper sulphate. we ended up getting some from the chemistry lab.
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DO NOT ATEMPT TO OPEN A BATTERY YOU WILL SQUERT ASID IN YOUR
EYE
sorry but this is not safe
p.s. use penneys insted they work just as well(with vinegar)
.. though have never seen a battery "squirt" anything in all the times i've dismantelled them.. still i guess it could happen. warning duly noted
These batteries (actually, they are cells... Batteries are made of several cells in a series) shouldn't contain any liquids to "squirt" into your eyes. Nevertheless, anyone working with chemicals without proper eye protection is asking for trouble.
i appreciate it.
Still, kudos for going above the basic level your school expected and actually finding something out for yourselves. I did a similar thing in my first year- we were meant to measure the amount of carbon dioxide given off by yeast by counting the bubbles, but my friend and I figured this would be more accurate and less boring if we captured the gas in an inverted measuring cylinder and found the actual volume.
The science teachers listed possible flaws with the experiment, and we gave solutions to them until they just let us do it our way to shut us up :)