electrolysis voltage

[haydz]

hello!

im new so dont be to tough on me

 

i want to fill ballons up with hydrogen and oxygen (because its easier) and ive modified a 1.5 litre coke bottle so that 2 carbon rods are sticking into it. then all i have to do is add water and an electrolyte and hook it up to some electricity and put a balloon on the mouth. but this takes a ridiculous amounts of time to even fill the balloon up (not even till its standing up)

 

 

so my question is, if i hook up the rods to the wall outlet via an old cord, will this speed it up alot? enough to fill a balloon within half an hour? ive tried adding more electrolytes (mainly NaCl) but it hasnt made much of a difference at all.

 

so will my idea work? or is there an easier way to do this. (btw i dont have enough HCl or any acid, and Mg or other metal to do it this way.)

 

thanks!

[Molotov]

I dont think you can use AC voltage for electrolysis.

[haydz]

thats weird because im using a 9v AC adapter and it seems to work fine?

[haydz]

Anybody know what the bluey greeny stuff underneath the Fe203 is?

 

edit: found out its iron hydroxide

[d22k]

well its 1 of two things, i did what you seem to be doing there (making iron oxide, for thermite?) i used copper electrodes from some electic cabling i had lying around, so it may be copper oxide, (or possibly hydride/hydroxide, but i dont know what colours or properties they have) Alternatively its just FE204, when making iron oxide this way, you tend to make fe204, or rust acid if u got the anode/cathodes mixed up) if you want fe203, then just heat up the filtrate, which is blackish green, and you will drive off the extra oxygen, and it will turn red

 

edit, you cant use ac effectively for electrolysis, u need DC, but a 9v adapter will most likely produce a dc current....

[haydz]

edit' date=' you cant use ac effectively for electrolysis, u need DC, but a 9v adapter will most likely produce a dc current....[/quote']

 

is there anyway to speed this process up or a better way of doing it than im doin? how long should it typically take to fill a balloon up with a good home made electrolysis?

[Callipygous]

is there anyway to speed this process up or a better way of doing it than im doin? how long should it typically take to fill a balloon up with a good home made electrolysis?

 

the only story i have ever heard about electrolysis involved a professor starting the process and then doing his lesson and by the end of the lecture it was ready to be ignited. exactly how long that is i dont know, but not quick.

 

an ac adapter should take in ac and put out dc, if you use ac it does the job, but then it switches what electrode is doing which, so they just recombine and it cancels out. if your adapter really is ac output maybe this is why it never even got to standing up?

[haydz]

how did he fill the balloon up ? i find that the hardest.

[Callipygous]

how did he fill the balloon up ? i find that the hardest.

 

just enough of the reaction i guess... im sure you could find instructions somewhere online if you dont get any satisfying responses here.

 

more voltage? although whats his face told me high voltage wouldnt do it. : P

better electrolyte? i dont know...

[BenSon]

We did the balloon thing in chem as well, we used something called the Hoffman(?) apparatus. It collects the gases in chamber so you can let it out with a valve that worked pretty well. Makng something similar to one of those is probably your best bet, maybe you can borrow one from your school, if they will let you.

Also I think our teacher added H2SO4 as well to spead up the electrolysis but seeing as you have metal in there thats probably not a good idea.

 

~Scott

[spartagus]

you can increase the amount of hydrogen and the other gas not oxygen - chlorine.... simply by increasing the surface area or using a more efficient source of metal.

 

if you wish to break water down into its composites and divide the covalant bond look at the hoffman experiment appartauts =)

[iNow]

spartagus,

 

It's good that you were able to offer an answer to the question. However, moving forward, you may want to take a peak at the posting dates before deciding whether or not to offer a response. If this person is still waiting for an answer 3 and a half years later, then they have bigger problems than insufficient knowledge of chemistry.