You can isolate hydrogen fuel with a simple at-home experiment.
Typically used in aerospace engineering or some green vehicles, a hydrogen fuel cell can be constructed at home or in class to illustrate the universal process of electromagnetism and how two vastly abundant substances like hydrogen and oxygen can be combined to make environmentally sensitive fuel. Acquiring the simple materials you'll need for the experiment will take some time; performing the experiment will take about 10 minutes.
Instructions
1. Cut your wiring into two 6-inch segments.
2. Wind the end of each piece tightly around the end of a pencil or the test probe of your voltmeter to make electrodes. Wind the wires 15 or 20 times around, until the straight portions are just about 1 inch long.
3. Cut the red and black leads to your 9-volt battery connector in half and strip about 1/2 inch of insulation from each of the six wire ends. Twist the straight end of one of the fuel electrodes around the exposed end of the red wire connected to the 9-volt battery connector and one end of the other red wire. Twist the straight end of the other electrode to the black wire attached to the battery connector and one end of the free black wire.
4. Tape these two wire connections together firmly, then tape each electrode, side-by-side, to the edge of a Popsicle stick, along with the red wiring for one and the black wiring for the other.
5. Fill a glass of water and tape the Popsicle stick to its top, so the two electrodes are fully submerged in the water but the wire connections above the electrodes stay dry.
6. Push the red and black wires that are dangling free into the corresponding wire ports on your voltmeter. Turn on your voltmeter; it shouldn't detect any voltage.
7. Touch, don't clip, your 9-volt battery to the battery clip and bubbles will begin to form on the electrodes. Remove the battery from the clip and set it aside.
8. Observe the voltage reading on your voltmeter. Though the battery has been disconnected, the process of electrolysis on the electrodes is illustrating how the chemical reaction taking place between hydrogen and oxygen is not only conducting electricity but creating its own.
Tags: your voltmeter, 9-volt battery, battery connector, 9-volt battery connector, about inch