How to Create Hydrogen Science Experiments
- 1). Cut two 9-inch lengths of copper wire. Grasp the end of each piece of wire with the needle-nose pliers and wrap it around the tip of the pliers five times to form a tight coil to serve as an electrode.
- 2). Fold each of the wires in half so that they can clip onto the lip of a food storage container like bobby pins, with the ends pointing straight down. Bend up the last inch of each of the four ends to a horizontal position so that they won't be tight against the container. Two of these ends are the coiled electrodes, and bending them points them toward the middle of the container. The other two ends are for attaching the alligator clips, and bending them away from the side of the container makes it easier to attach the clips.
- 3). Hang the wire pieces on the container with the electrodes on the inside. Position the electrodes 2 inches from each other. Make sure the electrodes can't come into contact with each other and short out the battery.
- 4). Fill the container with water until the copper coils are an inch below the surface.
- 5). Attach one test lead to each of the upturned ends. Attach the other end of one of the leads to the positive battery terminal and the other end of the other lead to the negative terminal. Bubbles should start to form on the electrodes, slowly at first then gaining speed and rising to the surface. Because water molecules have two hydrogen atoms for every oxygen atom, whichever electrode has the most bubbles is the one producing the hydrogen gas. The other electrode is generating oxygen.
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