Thread: electrolysis

i tried electrolysis of water using standard 12v adapter but it seems that no bubbles are coming out why doesn't it work? i thought even 6 volts was enough to produce alot of bubbles and somehow it doesn't even work. why is this? and also is it possible to do electrolysis using the mains socket? is it too dangerous?

Contrary to popular belief water is an insulator, that is electricity does not flow through it. Electricty appears to flow through water but in reality this only happens where the water is polluted with some other material (such as dissolved salts). so put some salt into the water.

Don't use the mains socket - no DONT use the mains socket.

I have just tried with tap water and only 3 mA flows even with 30 Volts. Adding salt the current went up to over 300 mA with strong bubbling from the negative. Bubbles stop below about 20 mA.

Not sure what happens with AC.

Tap water has significant imputities in it if you use distilled pure water you'll see no current at all (just makes you wonder what is in "pure tap water") Try bottled water as well, if you get 3ma then you have been conned and it's just tap water.

As for the mains please don't do it, but if you are foolish enough to try then take the live/line wire through an incandescent light bulb to limit the current but really DON'T do it! you could easily cause a fire, an explosion, or even the wires to the mains socket melt, or catch fire.

alright but salt water did work but it seem to corrode the metal i don't know which one but anion or cation either + or - and do i need platinum wires or something to stop it from dissolving or corroding?

So what exactly are you trying to do?

Wiki has an excellent section on Electrolysis and Electrochemistry have a read through, use copper and iron (you can plate the iron with copper) by the way salt was an example, ie something readily available to aid current flow through the medium but far from the best, again see wiki...