How Water & Electrolytes are Used to Make Hydrogen

Video Transcript

"Alright, Michael Raines at Expert Village. Now, we're moving on with our experiment. We've basically put our containers together. Now we have to talk about the solution. The aqueous solution, which is water. Now, yes, we use ordinary water, but it's going to be distilled water. Regular tap water doesn't cut it. Too many impurities in the water. Now, what is an electrolyte? Well, let me show you. I'm going to scoot this over. And I grab some chemicals. Here's one, Potassium Carbonate. Here's another nasty one, Lye, bad stuff. And Baking Soda. Just the regular Baking Soda stuff. Now, you say that's an electrolyte? Yes, these are electrolytes. It's a chemical in the water that promotes current flow from negative to positive. Regular water that's distilled or purified won't have much of an electric current flow. It needs to have an electrolyte in the solution. Now Lye, horrible stuff. Great electrolyte. Poisonous, a caustic, terrible stuff. I don't even know why I tried it. It works. Bad stuff to use, because if you had a spill it's going to eat your hands off. It will. Do you know what this stuff was used for? Drain opener. It's horrible stuff. Don't use it. You'll see it, don't use it. Now, Potassium Carbonate. Not such a deadly chemical. But it's hard to get. It is a specialized chemical. Still a great electrolyte. A lot safer. In fact, very safe. But still, do you know where to get Potassium Carbonate? I don't, I had to order it. Now, baking soda. Everybody's got some. Why baking soda? Because it works as an electrolyte. Yes, all we have to do is add a little bit of baking soda to the water and it's not ordinary water. It's distilled drinking water. Yes, distilled water is what we're going to use. We're going to use a little baking soda and it's going to work. Now, why distilled water again? Well you know that the regular water, tap water has impurities. You can use rainwater if you want to collect rainwater and go to all that trouble, but just go to the store and get some distilled water will you? Now, we're going to put it together, but you'll have to wait until the next clip."