Question about Chlorine Electrolisys (spell?)

[frosch45]

Hey ppl

 

(attached diagram)

 

OK so I took some distilled water and saturated it completely with NaCl. I used rods of graphite as my anode and cathode. I am capturing bubbles forming at each pole in some containers. I see bubbles very slowly forming (im using 4 9v batteries) and also the water around the cathode is turning dark yellow and the water around the anode is a foggy white. I'm pretty sure the yellow water is chlorine, but.....

 

What I really want to know is how I get this apparently highly chlorinated water (correct me if i'm wrong) into pure (or as pure as it can be) chlorine gas.

 

I am aware of the health risks, I have this outside. I am not touching the water with my bare hands I am using rubber gloves.

[Mr.Chockuls]

i think it's HCl.

[YT2095]

it wouldn`t be chlorine water as such but rather Chlorous acid that will bond with the sodium to make sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) yes, Toilet bleach

 

if you want the gas alone you can either continue as you are until the bottle fills with the gas (probably easiest).

or IIRC the addition of a Sulphite will decompose the Chlorite part and liberate free Cl2.

 

you may have to research this though as it`s been ages since I did anything like that.

[frosch45]

thx guys

but one more thing

 

last night one of my four 9 volt batteries exploded out the bottom

ya so that was kinda bad

 

but does anyone have any idea why that would happen? was it just too may volts?

 

and any ideas for a Sulfite commonly found?

[Melvin]

I've seen sodium sulfite at my local pool store.

[recursive]

thx guys

but one more thing

 

last night one of my four 9 volt batteries exploded out the bottom

ya so that was kinda bad

 

but does anyone have any idea why that would happen? was it just too may volts?

 

and any ideas for a Sulfite commonly found?

 

Judging from your previous posts, maybe you wired it backwards. But also shorting batteries tends to make them explode, so if the wires came too close then you would have that problem. Also were your batteries in series or parallel?

[frosch45]

They were in a series, just attached like the positive head of one to the negative head of another, then on the same battery that positive head to another negative head

 

and what do you mean wired backwards?

 

did i do something wrong? id really like to fix this

[jrayj]

Dude just buy youself a battery charger or get a "wall wart" ac to dc convertor. It's much easier and you won't have to spend an outragous amount on 9 volt batteries. I did something like this with a battery charger and the water turned green.

[hydraliskdragon]

The battery exploded due the fact that you were charging the nine volt battery.

 

Some of the chlorous acid acted as an electroyte.

 

I suggest you put a regulator diode or use a wallplug power source.

 

What anode and cathod are you using?

 

The green stuff is copper (II) chloride from the NaCl and Cu

Edited October 19, 2008 by hydraliskdragon

[qlue]

Regardless of your power source, I would recommend using a constant current circuit to power the electrodes in any electrolysis experiment. Try the L200C power regulator ic. The place where you buy it from should be able to provide the data sheet which contains the recommended circuit for using it as a current source.

Batteries should not be connected in series unless specifically designed to be. Never mix different types of battery. Don't mix old batteries with new batteries. A battery may explode if,

a. a reverse voltage is applied to it

b. too much current is drawn from it

c. an excessive voltage is connected to it.

If one of your electrodes became coated with a conductive substance, it might have caused the electrolyte to act like a battery, causing a reversal of the current flow.

[frosch45]

Thanks, but I got it. I've learned quite a bit since then