What We Did
For this project we decide to make a hydrogen generator. The way it works is that we have a battery connected to a “ladder” made out of galvanized screws and popsicle sticks. The battery would then use electrical energy to give an electrical current to the screws. The ladder is placed in a jar of salt water and the electrical current that goes through the screws causes the zinc and salt to react. This reaction is called water electrolysis. This is a chemical reaction where the current splits apart the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen. These two gases then go into the tube and into the second jar which is filled with water. In the second jar the oxygen is absorbed by the water, while the hydrogen leaves the second jar into the petri dish. The petri dish had a layer of water in it, so the hydrogen going into it could create bubbles. Since hydrogen gas is flammable you can light it on fire, which creates thermal and light energy. With that energy we were going to toast a marshmallow.
Changes We Made
We originally has only one jar with both gasses going to the petri dish, but it would not produce a flame. We realized that this would not work because oxygen is not flammable, meaning the hydrogen also would not catch on fire. We also realized that more salt was needed because the saltwater can conduct electricity a lot better than fresh water could, so we needed to put a lot in so we could get a lot of gas produced in a shorter amount of time. We also thought that we didn’t get any bubbles because we did not have enough energy, so we tried two batteries instead of one. In the end the design with 2 jars and 1 or 2 batteries worked, however it did not work as well as we hoped. When we lit a match to it, the hydrogen did not go up in a flame, but rather it sparked and fizzled. Since we did not achieve the size flame we originally desired, we could not toast a marshmallow.
Benefits of This Design
This design is really good in real life because it doesn’t produce any harmful toxins. Also, the resources need for this machine is readily available and will not spoil or rot, like other materials did that were used for this project. Our machine that we made, however, is not that efficient because the sparks didn’t last that long so we couldn’t heat up anything. Also, it took a while to get any hydrogen gas in the petri dish, which means it was not time efficient. However when a hydrogen generator is combined with gas engines in cars, it would make the car more efficient, but on it’s own it is not effective.
Final Design Pictures
Video Of It Bubbling
Why Our Reaction Happened
We used chemical energy to power start the reaction which happened through the battery. A battery works when you complete a circuit you complete between the cathodes and anodes and in between both are the electrodes. The ions leave through the anodes and flows through the object and comes back to the cathodes, where they take in the ions. This current then produced electrical energy that moved through the ladder. The charge then split the salt water into the hydrogen and oxygen. Water electrolysis only with a current, and the hydrogen will be attracted to the cathodes, while the oxygen will be attracted to the anodes. That is why after running a current through the water a couple times, every other screw rusted. The hydrogen and oxygen will then go to the send jar where the oxygen is dissolved into the water. This happens because the oxygen diffuses across the surface of the water. The hydrogen will not be absorbed, so it will go out to the petri dish, where we would create thermal and light energy. Fire create both forms of energy because the flame gives off heat and light. However, since we never created a big flame, we did not actually achieve either types of energy.
Equations
Q=mCT
Q=450g4.18J/g℃.8℃
Heat energy of jar one is 1504.8
Q=mCT
Q=450g4.18J/g℃.7
Heat energy of jar two is 1316.7J
To find the energy output by the entire system you would find the heat energy of the marshmallow, but we were unable to toast one, therefore we have no numbers. We can conclude we lost a lot of energy between jars and petri dish because we lost 188.1J of energy between the two. This energy lost could be from not having sealed connections between
Q=450g4.18J/g℃.8℃
Heat energy of jar one is 1504.8
Q=mCT
Q=450g4.18J/g℃.7
Heat energy of jar two is 1316.7J
To find the energy output by the entire system you would find the heat energy of the marshmallow, but we were unable to toast one, therefore we have no numbers. We can conclude we lost a lot of energy between jars and petri dish because we lost 188.1J of energy between the two. This energy lost could be from not having sealed connections between
Content
- Anode - This is where the positive electrons come back to the battery after going through the circuit.
- Cathode - This is where the negative electrons leave the battery and go through the object.
- Chemical Energy - This is the potential energy that chemical reactions that undergoes a transformation.
- Thermal Energy - This is energy that comes from heat, which comes from the movement of partials in an object.
- Light Energy - This is the form of energy that we can see.
- Water Electrolysis - This is the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. In order to do this, you need to run an electric current through the water.
- Current - This is the flow of an electric charge
Reflection
This project posed some challenges. One of the biggest challenges I faced was my group not being interested in the project/ them not wanted to do work. This resulted in me doing most of the project and research. This challenge really made me work on my collaboration because I had to think of ways to get my group to all be involved, but in general I need to work on this more do I am not left doing all the work. If this ever happens again, I should talk to a teacher because it is not fair for everyone to get a grade based on the work I did. Another challenge was figuring out how to get a hydrogen generator to work because there was not many instructions online, so most of our project was based around one video, which also made it harder to do research for how it worked because there was s little information out there. In the future when doing research for a project I should search with more broad terms instead of just what the name of what I'm making. I can also ask for help from my peers and teacher because I did not take advantage of those resources.
One of the positives about this project was that I figured out how to transfer energy in a way that was not mechanical because in the past when we've done energy transfer labs, we used mechanical energy. I liked this because I could see alternate ways to accomplish the same task. Another thing that I improved upon was my critical thinking because I had to think of the different ways the project could have been not working and come up with solution to those problems. Also our project was very different from everyone else's projects, so we used our creativity in our project.
One of the positives about this project was that I figured out how to transfer energy in a way that was not mechanical because in the past when we've done energy transfer labs, we used mechanical energy. I liked this because I could see alternate ways to accomplish the same task. Another thing that I improved upon was my critical thinking because I had to think of the different ways the project could have been not working and come up with solution to those problems. Also our project was very different from everyone else's projects, so we used our creativity in our project.