MDJH

Well, yeah, I know oxygen at too high a concentration can be harmful, but I meant in terms of one being necessary the other being more harmful. BTW why am I getting responses here yet not in my electrolysis topic? That one needs to be answered sooner because I'd like to try electrolysis as soon as I can, I'm going off to University in a couple weeks...

I remember reading about electrolysis of water before learning about it in chemistry class during the school year, and now I want to try it. First off, what is a safe electrolyte for it? Also, since the quantity of products is determined by the charge transferred, (as in the current and low long the current is flowing) then what effect other than determining whether or not electrolysis occurs does the voltage have? As in, if the charge transferred is the same in one case where the voltage is barely above the cell potential and another case where the voltage is much higher than the cell potential, since the energy transferred will be much higher, where does that extra energy go? Would it heat the solution? If I were to do water electrolysis using a 1.5 volt cell (I think water's cell potential is 1.23 volts) would the extra 0.27 volts not dissipated by the electrolysis overheat the cell? Also, would the size of the water container affect it?

I know, I know, I remember that from grade 12 chemistry class. However, the fact that it occurs naturally in the stomach would be interestingly ironic. Though come to think of it, I guess an analogy about another element would be a better idea; what about how oxygen and ozone both have only oxygen in their structures but the structural arragement is what determines whether it's essential or harmful? EDIT: By the way I haven't really bothered to look for that site since, but I guess it's also a bit fun to talk about.

Bluenoise: Actually, the very reason for me thinking sodium chloride isn't a good analogy is a combination of things you already mentioned; it's not the same type of bond and more significantly it's good for you anyway. Also, what you said about them probably not noticing is actually what I meant by putting it mildly by not saying "whoever made that site doesn't seem to be very chemically educated" but again I wanted to make sure that I would be making a sound analogy. insane_alien: Of course! Hydrochloric acid! Wow, I don't know why I didn't even think of that one, haha, if I find that site again I know just the analogy, thanks!

I'm referring to chlorine in this case; I read something ridiculous on a web site about sucralose "having chlorine in it just like chlorine bleach" because IIRC sucralose takes a sucrose molecule and replaces some of the hydrogen atoms with chlorine atoms to eliminate the "sugar" effect, and I wanted to provide an analogy about other compounds that contain chlorine in their chemical formula but I'm not sure if sodium chloride makes for a good analogy... whoever made that site doesn't seem to be very chemically educated (given how they compared these substances on the basis of them having a common element) but I would like a list of harmless covalent compounds with chlorine in their chemical formula so that if I find out how to contact the creator of that site (which to be fair isn't very likely, I closed out that window and now I don't even remember the site URL, but I was thinking for if I find that site) I can prove that the element chlorine isn't harmful in itself except as a diatomic arrangement and some compounds; as you might be able to tell by now I like to refute the public hysteria against artificial sweeteners.

Hmm? What if we were to assign a specific area (let's say some place that gets lightning frequently) and have some large supported interconnected network of uninsulated wires of some conductor like copper or aluminum, and have it arranged sort of like a grid (well except 3-D of course) that goes high into the sky but the angle can be changed so that the network can be passed through a charged cloud, and have it so that all the metal converges somewhere closer to the ground to combine all the electricity it gathers from the charged cloud, and give that electricity a path to the ground such that in order to reach the ground it has to pass through whatever means are used to harness the electricity? I was thinking about this, and I think that'd be a good way to attract the lightning, and even take some lightning strikes that might otherwise be cloud-to-cloud strikes and make them cloud-to-ground instead. As for whatever means, I was thinking maybe running it through water with an electrolyte in it(well, if the electrical transformer concept was applied so as to step-down the voltage to step-up the current) so as to apply water electrolysis to store the energy, or if that wouldn't work maybe running it through a sheet of some kind of filament, (like the kind used in toasters) then immerse the heated filament in water and use a steam turbine to generate electricity, and then run THAT electricity through water to store the energy? Also, what about lightning electromagnets? As in, if the converged conductor from my wire network idea was coiled around a ferromagnetic material to create a solenoid, wouldn't the sheer strength, even if only for a short period of time, of the magnetic field created, have all sorts of potential applications?

Ok, so the energy the battery supplied is what's important... but the electric energy is a product of the voltage and the charge, right? So what determines how much charge will flow per second? According to Ohm's Law it would be the voltage divided by the resistance, right? So would the electrolyte used determine the resistance and therefore the current flowing, therefore the energy transferred per second? Otherwise, does the electrolyte used alter the voltage required at all? And what about my earlier question of the remaining volts, would those return to the battery and damage it? Also, if I used a higher-voltage source, what effect would that have? If I were to use sulfuric acid, where could I get it to known concentration? I think I remember reading before about auto repair shops selling sulfuric acid for refilling car batteries, is that the case? Would that be the most convenient source of sulfuric acid, or are there other ways? Also, what would happen to the sulfur in the sulfuric acid? Would it produce any harmful gases, and if so, at which electrode? And lastly, if I were to use copper wire, wouldn't copper react with sulfuric acid to form copper sulfate? If so, in which case I'd use a graphite rod from a pencil, how much resistance would the graphite rod from a pencil have if I separated the graphite from the wood by burning the pencil? EDIT: Oh, and where can I get a hydrogen fuel cell?

Now that it's been summertime for weeks I'd like to do what I was waiting to do during the school year... apply what I learned in Physics and Chemistry during the summer. Trouble is, I'm not sure if I adequately remember Physics and Chemistry, so I'd like to check here to make sure I'd know what I'm doing. First off, with volts, amps, and watts; Volts is joules per coulomb, meaning energy divided by charge; am I to assume this means voltage refers to "how much energy the charge has"? Amps is coulombs per second, so how much charge is flowing per second, and watts refers to joules per second, so how much energy is flowing; so in a modified version of "Faraday's Iron Ring" (IIRC it used coils of wire on one side to create a magnetic field in the iron that was pushed to the other side where it induced current in coils of another wire) where there's more coils on one side than the other, using the side with more coils as the current input and the side with less as the current output would step-down the voltage and therefore step-up the current to still have about the same amount of power... am I to assume this means that as a result of the iron ring transfer, the same amount of charge doesn't have as much energy, but there's more charge? Ok, so now to chemistry, where I learned about electrolysis of water and of aqueous solutions. The quantity of products, according to Faraday's Law, depends on the charge, not the voltage, right? So is determining whether or not electrolysis occurs the only effect voltage has on electrolysis? If not, what other effects does voltage have? If so, does this mean that as long as the voltage is past a certain threshold (I think it's called the cell potential) increasing the voltage won't affect the electrolysis so long as the current is the same? If so, what happens to the extra energy being supplied? Does it heat the aqueous solution? Anyway, I still have my chemistry textbook, it says the cell potential for pure water is 1.23 volts. Was that a typo? Does that mean I can electrolyse water, without an electrolyte, from a 1.5 volt cell? If so, would the extra .27 volts of electric potential overheat the cell or is it safe? Also, would how big the water container is affect it, or would that only affect the resistance and therefore the current drawn? I think I had more to ask but I'll leave it there anyway, as that's a lot of questions already.

There was something I was going to try based on things I learned in different science courses last school year but I'm not sure if I would be sure enough of what I'm doing, and there's some things I'd like to ask here first. My idea mixes electromagnetic induction with electrolysis of aqueous solutions, but that would mean I'm asking for things related to chemistry and things related to physics. What would be a good approach to take, should I ask these things separately in the separate boards or is another board (like general) a good place to put it?