Lab Number 7

In this lab, we were able to complete the efficiency experiment. Results and conclusions will be discussed at the end of this post.

Experiment setup:

Each reaction ran for an exact 60 seconds.

Copper

Aluminum

Oxygen gas actually visibly being produced on this electrode.

Steel

Titanium

 

Results

Conclusion

In each of the experiments, there is one common theme: there is actually no oxygen gas being created. This is the main goal of the design project and it seems that it cannot be done. In order for the reaction to go, there needs to be salt in the solution, however, this salt actually ionizes with the oxygen gas to create chlorine gas. The chlorine gas contaminates the water which is why it turns a greenish/yellow color. Overall, it was learned that the reaction cannot be done here to produce oxygen.

On the other hand, in each case a decent amount of hydrogen gas was produced. This can later be used in different reactions to not only produce oxygen, but possibly fire missiles or other possibilities. Hydrogen gas is extremely flammable and because of this trait, is useful for many reactions.

In conclusion, this was a extremely useful and important experiment. It took a while to complete, but all of the time spend was crucial for learning the experiment. We are happy that we have the knowledge that was learned from the efficiency experiment.