How to Make Homemade Hydrogen

The easiest way to make hydrogen gas is to run a current through water. Although normal tap water will work, you can get better results by adding some salt to increase the conductivity. The process produces very little heat, so little energy is wasted. The trickiest thing about it is catching the hydrogen as it is released. Placing a tube just right to catch the tiny hydrogen bubbles as they come up from the water can be a challenge.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Salt water
• Jar
• Tape
• Wires
• Lantern battery
• Cylinder

Instructions

1. Get a number two pencil without an eraser at the end. Cut it in half.

2. Expose the graphite. Sharpen both ends of each pencil half. Alternately, you can slice the wood off the pencils to get two graphite rods.

3. Attach one tip of each pencil to a wire. Hold the wire against the pencil, then tape it down.

4. Attach each wire to a terminal of a lantern battery. Just twist the metal fibers into the coil.

5. Fill a jar with salt water. Put the pencils inside the jar on opposite sides with their tips in the water. Tape them to the jar to keep them still. You should see bubbles start to form at the tips of the pencils. One pencil is releasing hydrogen, the other, oxygen.

6. Fill a cylinder with water. Turn it upside down in the jar and move it over to the pencil attached to the negative terminal. Use it to catch the bubbles of hydrogen gas.

Tips & Warnings

• Try modifying a cylinder so that the tip of the pencil is embedded in it. This will make it easier to trap hydrogen.

Resources

• Fun things to Do with Hydrogen