Renata blogged about the electrolysis demonstration Zach did for her class. Here are his directions for a version of that experiment that the kids can do at home.
This is a smaller scale experiment than what we did in class. This can be safely done at home, and will not involve the collection of the gasses.
Here are the items you will need.
1: Glass container (a jam jar works well here).
2: Two pencils
3: A piece of cardboard slightly bigger than the glass.
4: Two pieces of thin electrical wire about 8-10 inches in length.
5: Electrical tape.
6: Epsom Salt (this is NOT table salt. Ask your parents!)
7: A 9 volt battery.
Experiment steps:
1: Remove the erasers from the pencils and sharpen both ends.
2: Attach one wire (about 8-10 inches long) to each pencil by wrapping the exposed wire around one end of the pencil, and using the electrical tape to secure it.
3: Fill the glass container about 3/4 of the way with water.
4: Mix several tablespoons of the Epsom salt in with the water. You want to saturate the solution, so keep mixing until no more will dissolve. Do this about 1 tablespoon at a time.
5: Put the cardboard piece on top of the glass, and poke two holes about 2 inches apart. Push the end of each pencil that does not have the wire attached through the holes, and into the water.
6: Finally, attach the other end of the wire to the 9 volt battery with the electrical tape to help hold them in place.
At this point you will see bubbles forming at the tips of the pencils in the water. If you look closely, one will be forming bubbles more quickly than the other. This is the Hydrogen. The one with the fewer
bubbles is the Oxygen.
That's it! You have successfully split hydrogen and oxygen from water.
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