Producing Hydrogen Using LiquidsType of Science: Chemistry Experimental InvestigationMatthew Li640 W. Scott St. Chicago, IL 606108th GradeAcknowledgments Page 2Purpose, Testable Question and Hypothesis Page 3Review of Literature Page 4-6Materials Page 7Procedure Page 8Data Page 9-10Conclusion Page 11Reflection, Application Page 12Reference List Page 131Acknowledgements I would first like to thank my dad for helping me get the materials needed for the experiment. I would also like to thank my dad for helping watch over the experiment in case something went bad or if I needed help.
My Ms. Machado for helping give us time and an outline to work on this project.2Purpose The purpose of this experiment is to find out which liquid can produce the most hydrogen.Testable Question What liquid can you separate the most hydrogen from water: Water, Lemonade, Seltzer Water, or Sprite?Hypothesis You will be able to separate the most hydrogen from water. Water does not have any other ingredients other than hydrogen and oxygen. This means that it will have the most hydrogen to separate from it.
3Review of LiteratureDid you know there is a simple and easy way to separate the H in H2O? Separating hydrogen from water can actually be done in many ways. The easiest way to separate the hydrogen from water is by using electrolysis. Electrolysis is the chemical reaction that is made by passing an electric current through a liquid or solution containing ions.
So if you were to put a battery in water, it would create hydrogen and oxygen. The positive side would produce oxygen and the negative side would produce hydrogen. The more used way to use electrolysis would be to use a conducting metal, such as a paperclip, connect it to the battery and then put it in the water. The way the idea of producing hydrogen through electrolysis was inspired was from an engineer by the name of Cyrus Harding. “Yes my friends,” Harding states, “I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable… Water will be the coal of the future” (Haugen, 10).
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At the time of the quote, many oil prices rose high and a worldwide environmental movement arose due to the concerns on over pollution and global warming. Due to this they wanted a way to replace gasoline with hydrogen, a more environmental friendly fuel source. The problem with this is that the most efficient way to make hydrogen would be to use something such as electrolysis taking up power, in the end not being very environmental friendly.
The best way to make this environmental friendly would be using renewable sources such as wind power of solar power.4Another way to produce hydrogen that does not require electrolysis, is by using aluminum. Although aluminum with water by itself will not work due to the aluminum oxide that protects the aluminum metal from coming in contact with water.
If there was no aluminum oxide the aluminum and water would create hydrogen. If you were to take off the layer of aluminum oxide, it would not take much to make be able to make hydrogen. Other methods of making hydrogen with water are still being looked for on common one was using heat and catalysts.Water is made up of 2 positive hydrogen ions and one negative oxygen ion. These ions are held together through electromagnetic attraction.
When electricity goes through water, a cathode will go to hydrogen and an anote will go to oxygen. When these the water comes in contact with these electrodes, the hydrogen will gain electrodes and the oxygen will lose electrodes. When this happens the ions become electrically balanced. This also causes some of the electrical energy to turn into heat, being a reason this might not be the most efficient (instructables.com).
In lemonade an ingredient is water. This means that there is hydrogen and oxygen in lemonade and apple juice. Separating hydrogen from lemonade and apple juice could be a problem since there are other ingredients in them.
Lemonade consists of sugar, lemon juice, and water. Sugar and lemon juice could have conflicts when separating hydrogen and oxygen. Sprite and seltzer also has water as an ingredient but it is carbonated. Since carbonated water has carbon dioxide and possibly other additives in it, it could change the way hydrogen and oxygen separate.
Same with the other ingredients in sprite such as corn syrup, citric acid, sodium citrate, 5and sodium benzoate. The seltzer water is just carbonated water with no additives. Seltzer water has no additives but carbonation could still be a part of how much hydrogen is produced.This research shows how to separate hydrogen from water.
It also shows how it works and how the best method of separating hydrogen from water is using electrolysis. The ingredients in the liquids for the experiment might be the reasons that the results were different. The ingredients could have had conflicts with the separation of hydrogen from water.6Materials MaterialsQuantity6 Volt Lantern Battery1Water1.4 litersLemonade1.
4 LitersSeltzer Water1.4 LitersSprite1.4 LitersPaper Clips 2Conducting Wire2 pieces (about 40 cm)Large Bowl/Container (with flat surface)1Vial1Tape1 rollSalt5.927ProcedureTape an end of the wire with a part of graphite.
Do this with both wires.Tape the other ends of the wire to the battery (one on the positive, one on the negative).Take a bowl/container (with flat surface) and put 1.
4 liters of water in it.Put 1.48 cubic meters of salt into the water.
Take a vial, fill it with water and put it upside down in the water (make sure the vial has no bubble in it).Stick the negative wire into the vial and put the positive wire in the water (suggest taping the vial to the bowl/container).At 20 minutes measure about how big the air pocket in the water is (cm down the vial).Repeat steps 3-8 for each liquid.8Data The amount of hydrogen built up in the water was about 1.2 cm high. After pulling out the positive graphite, the negative graphite was still producing bubbles. Right away I could tell that the sprite was producing pockets quicker.
The graphite was producing bubbles much quicker, and 5 minutes the air pocket was much bigger than the water’s air pocket at 5 minutes. It was difficult to tell if it was all hydrogen being produced due to the fact that a lot of bubble could be caused from carbonation. During the sprite I had to move the graphite stick down a little bit since it was exposed to the air pocket. The sprite had an air pocket that was about 2.35 cm down the vial.
Again, like the sprite, I could tell that the air pocket was being produced much faster than water. There were a lot more bubbles being produced and it was very similar to how the sprite looked. I think that there is a lot bigger air pocket being made but it is not all hydrogen, some of the air pocket could be from the carbonation. In the end the air pocket was about 3.
3 centimeters down the bottle.At the start of the lemonade, it did not look like much was happening, then white foam was starting to form at the top. I do not know if this was hydrogen or not but it was definately a gas. It was much different from the rest of the liquids and the foam did not produce as fast as previous liquids’ air pockets did. After about 10 minutes there was an air pocket above the foam also being built up. In the end the foam went about 1.2 cm down the bottle and the air pocket was about 1.
15 cm down the bottle. 9LiquidHow far air pocket is down vial (cm.)Water1.2Seltzer Water3.3Lemonade1.15Sprite2.3510ConclusionMy hypothesis was incorrect. The sprite and carbonated water produced a bigger air pocket than water.
This could be because there was a reaction with the carbonation producing more hydrogen, or the air pocket was not all hydrogen. The air pocket could have consisted of carbon and hydrogen. I predicted the lemonade would have a smaller air pocket than water which ended up being correct. Although there was foam that was equal to waters air pocket. This probably meant the sugar reacted with it. 11Reflection At the start of the experiment I used paper clips instead of graphite. This was a problem since the paperclips corroded. I did some research and found graphite to be a better material to use.
I found that throughout the experiment my battery’s voltage was going down, this could be a factor that affected how much hydrogen was produced. Another thing I tried to do was light the pocket of air on fire to see if it was actually hydrogen. It appeared that there was not enough hydrogen to light on fire. When it came to the experiment it was difficult to tell if the air pocket produced from sprite was hydrogen or not. When making changes to the experiment, it seemed to go well. ApplicationUsing the knowledge from this experiment, people could find out a fast or more efficient way to create hydrogen. Hydrogen can be good for things such as fuel for a car or even as rocket fuel.
Currently powered cars are not very environmentally friendly, but that could change if there was a way to make hydrogen in an environment friendly way. Hydrogen can also be used to create chemicals such as hydrochloric acids or fertilizers. Using a method of removing hydrogen from water could be a much more environmental friendly way to produce hydrogen. Overall hydrogen has many uses and the most separating hydrogen from water seems like the most environmental way to make it.12References -Dent, Steve. “What you need to know about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
” Engadget, 21 Oct. 2016, www.engadget.com/2014/12/23/hydrogen-fuel-cell-explainer/.-Administrator.
“How to separate hydrogen from water without electrolysis.” HHO, 22 July 2017, www.hhocarfuelcell.com/how-to-separate-hydrogen-from-water-without-electrolysis.
-hooloovoo33, and Instructables. “Separate Hydrogen and Oxygen From Water Through Electrolysis.” Instructables.com, Instructables, 11 Nov.
2017, www.instructables.com/id/Separate-Hydrogen-and-Oxygen-from-Water-Through-El/.
-“Aluminum and its reaction with water.” MEL Science, melscience.com/en/articles/aluminum-and-its-reaction-water/.-Bullis, Kevin. “A Better Way to Get Hydrogen from Water.” MIT Technology Review, MIT Technology Review, 22 Oct. 2012, www.
technologyreview.com/s/428260/a-better-way-to-get-hydrogen-from-water/.-Uses Of, www.usesof.net/uses-of-hydrogen.html.
-“Sprite.” Coca-Colaproductfacts.com, www.
coca-colaproductfacts.com/en/products/sprite/.-Bauer, Elise. “Perfect Lemonade Recipe.” Simply Recipes, www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_lemonade/.
-Haugen, David M. Hydrogen. Greenhaven Press, 2006.13
