Electrolysis of Water

Experiment with data for electrolysis of water. A 9V battery is used to decompose water in a 3M NaOH solution. The data shows a smaller volume of gas produced from one electrode (3.8 mL) and a larger volume of gas produced from the other (7.6 mL). These gases are tested using a splint to confirm hydrogen is the larger volume of gas and oxygen is the smaller.
Alternatives to sodium hydroxide are safer for contact, but most produce gases either through electrolysis or as acid is produced.
I tried using sodium bicarbonate, sodium acetate, sodium citrate, potassium nitrate and sodium sulfate using various concentrations in distilled water. Only 3M NaOH avoided this problem.

[sya]

watching ur vid is a part of my online school work now

[attractedtoyourmother]

No cap but I'm pretty sure 150k of the views are teachers and students watching this for online classes. No wonder educative video publishers became so famous in the COVID-19 age.

[vrindarawat]

Thank you so much it helped me a lot during online classes (COVID-19)

[melissaque]

Thank you for posting this. I always have difficulty carrying out this demonstration in class.

[muzzammilpervaiz]

I have never seen such a outstanding experiment on water electrolysis ever. Thanks alot

[sayanchatterjee]

This I felt as my school laboratory....I liked this very much

[Berghiker]

I tried this in a small bottle with 2 stainless steel plates about 0.3mm apart and drew about 20A at 5V. Distilled water with some NaOH in it. The production of H2 and O were abundant.
The stainless steel electrodes never corroded and still looked like new.

[Berghiker]

The explosive power of the mixed gasses is amazing! (In small quantities of course). A small amount lit makes a loud bang.

[InauguralArmageddon]

This video is demonstrating something really interesting.
But if you filmed it again there would be many improvements you could make!
When you’re performing the splint test on the hydrogen, it would be a great idea not to put your hand in-front of the camera.
Equally, it would perhaps be better if both test tubes were full of their respective gases the second time around to give a more dramatic example of the reaction that takes place when they are ignited!
It is nice that you have demonstrated this reaction.

[OlivePepsi]

Lol, I got assigned this for school😭 one of the questions is ‘Include an explanation as to why the water was able to be broken apart.’ Which I don't understand-

[jfrjr]

This could be better explained.
First, the polarities should've been established. Who is the cathode (-) who is the anode(+).
Then, describe the chemistry behind the reaction.
H2O produces twice more hydrogen molecules than Oxygen, as H2 and O. Then calculate the molar volume of Hydrogen and Oxygen and confirm with empirical results.
As ideal gases volumes are known as 22.4 L/mol and hydrogen has twice as much than oxygen.

[carinae]

I wish you didn't block the ignition of the oxygen and hydrogen with your hand.

[mrsham]

Video is very good, i was searching for this work in my online school
Thanks bhai video banane ke liye

[flashthealphahusky]

Hi Scott, i am conducting a research, in which i choose 3 compounds as electrolyte/catalyst:
1.) Sodium Hydroxide
2.) Potassium Hydroxide
3.) Potassium Carbonate

Can you please suggest me which one will be good if i will use the same source of energy to compare.
i want to generate the setup that will be efficient or can generate large amount of H2 gas.

as i am making an experimental data, you can additionally share the records of the experiment conducted by you as you described in the description.
Also i want to know what are the factors that relates the performance of this kind of setup or cell, and how we can control the efficiency of this cell.
i want to make the most efficient HHO generator, that means the one which use less power and produce more HHO

[bwtinhfx]

No idea if you are still watching this space, Scott but ... is any NaOH lost in the process? i.e. if you arranged to keep the volume of water constant as the hydrolysis occurred, would the NaOH solution remain at 3M? Or would a constant resupply of NaOH be required to maintain the concentration? Thanks for the video :)

[Linda-swsk]

So how using electrolysis do we keep four people breathing in a space station, for 438 days? I don't understand at all.

[philindeblanc]

Why would you need to have a sodium hydroxide solution added if you are trying to demonstrate the production of gas from water? Will it work without it? How do you know the nodes are not simply reacting with the solution to create the gas? I see liquid has reduced in the tank very minimally, and this demonstration is very unsatisfactory. We should be able to measure the gases and see how they relate to the water, but more importantly understand the reaction of the use of sodium or potassium hydroxide and its reaction on the electrodes, and isolate this from what we assume as gas production from water.

[magnetscience]

Slightly misleading that during the video you switch to another battery (to provide higher current) without saying so. 12V?

[RemeilDady]

Is the glowing splinter test not for oxygen?

[wilsontarbuckles]

Misleading title of this video. It is not the electrolysis of water. It is the electrolysis of lye water.