Several people have commented with the valid concern that using low quality stainless steel electrodes will contaminate the electrolyte solution with poisonous hexavalent chromium which is not safe to handle or dispose of. I have spent some time this afternoon coming up with a solution to this problem. When using a strongly alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH as your electrolyte the fix is easy: drop a small 1x1 inch piece of aluminum foil into the electrolyte and let it dissolve. Do not add more than a small piece of foil at a time or the reaction may be violent. The dissolving foil will cause any dangerous chromium to convert into a non toxic variation, Cr(iii), evidenced by a green precipitate. One or two pieces of foil dissolved in this way and allowed to react for a few hours should be enough to ensure all chromium has been rendered non toxic.
I applaud the efforts to "neutralize" the Cr(VI) with a reducing agent but since you're still running the electrolysis cell you will be electrochemically oxidizing Cr(III) back to Cr(VI).
I did notice how low it was, Thanks to the Automatic Gain Control. By your reaction and the bang that was very close to a small size firework payload detonating next to you. not fun. also, you forgot to mention that spark are generating by pretty much any voltage. as low as 1 volt. don't how many amperes one needs for that, however is clear that it can be very dangerous when using poorly secure connections.
@@dandan-gf4jk I don't mind some dilute Cr(VI) when it's contained inside the cell, so long as there's a means to neutralize it prior to storage or disposal. Actually, since Cr(III) is extremely insoluble it's unlikely you would convert it back once reduced. You only have to deal with what forms fresh off the positive electrode.
@@Nighthawkinlight Then we might have different priorities, I was quite unhappy to find my SS cathode corrode because I left it in solution. In general having Cr(VI) in solution is better than having solid dust flying around, but still di/chromates are somewhat potent carcinogens so it would be beneficial to inform people that they probably shouldn't spill the water on themselves :P
you should check the PH value of the two containers in your first unit, before and after running it for a while because I am betting you have a slow return of the component of potassium back to one of the containers after it has been drawn to one of the electrodes in side with only a small hole and path to run back into the other side to equalize again. (look into chloro-alki cells used to split sodium chloride into hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, by way of a barrier that the components wont pass back through after being pulled or forced through or attracted by the inbalance of positive and negative charges. )
@@fred_e not just that, it also serves as lessons for us that he had to learn by trail and error, which is a Large reason I watch this, as I can use that for theory crafting in my head
I remember in my high school science class, my teacher demonstrated an hho device he had made. He used it to fill an upside down 2 litre coke bottle with the hho gas. He then sat the bottle at a 45 degree angle on a special launch rod he had made, removed the cap and held a flame to the end. The resulting explosion launched the bottle across the room, and into the brick wall on the opposite side, crushing the bottle to about half its length. Extremely dangerous to do in a classroom, but it was an awesome demonstration of the power of hydrogen and how to extract it from water. It is a science lesson i will never forget.
Yes, this must've been years ago. The liability issues these days disallow making science classes fun and interesting anymore. I have a nephew, both he and his wife are teachers. They were not even allowed to let their students outside for the eclipse the other day. Sad. Really sad. But, not to worry I suppose, there's always drag queen story hour to look forward to 🙄.
I built a HHO generator, my design, and ran the HHO into the air intake of my 3.8ltr engine. I used baking soda as an electrolyte rather than the caustic liquids. Worked great. I started no HHO at 22 mpg hiway/city and increased it to 28mpg hiway/city with HHO. I used a pulsed width modulator to pulse the current on the plates and a pot to control DC voltage. This took alot of experimenting to get this far in performance. The gas was not stored and used as it was created. On the highway I averaged 32 mpg. On flat ground no wind mpg went as high as 42mpg. I still have the generator in my shop. I stopped investigating and many other things because of my health. It was a lot of fun. The biggest generator I made was for a 454 cubic inch engine.
@@ItsStarsonic I found the pulse width mod with the pot for DC voltage on line. This was 20 years ago. I have no idea where the designs are. HHO is a big community, look around you'll find what you need and build it your way after a while.
Two useful suggestions: 1. the anode could be replaced to 「2.0mm Mechanical Pencil Core」which is cheap, replaceable, easy-get, inert. Each core is a 14cm long, 2.0mm diameter graphite stick. It won't generate any poisonous ions. Though the graphite pencil core can disolve to poders gradually, it's really cheap and easy to replace. 2. If the pure oxygen is not useful, the anode bottle could be omitted, just attach the anode at the outer surface of cathode bottle. So the graphite anode could be more easyer to replace. Your video is really great.
You are either a LIAR or you are not qualified to make instructional videos!! Water doesnt get split into hydrogen or oxygen gas. Its the electrodes that gas off and generate hydrogen and oxygen. This has been tested and isolated. Introducing more metals to the process only RUINS your video. Potassium HYDROXIDE?? I wonder what that would breakdown to be.LOL! List to your explanation below.... "Several people have commented with the valid concern that using low quality stainless steel electrodes will contaminate the electrolyte solution with poisonous hexavalent chromium which is not safe to handle or dispose of. I have spent some time this afternoon coming up with a solution to this problem. When using a strongly alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH as your electrolyte the fix is easy: drop a small 1x1 inch piece of aluminum foil into the electrolyte and let it dissolve. Do not add more than a small piece of foil at a time or the reaction may be violent. The dissolving foil will cause any dangerous chromium to convert into a non toxic variation, Cr(iii), evidenced by a green precipitate. One or two pieces of foil dissolved in this way and allowed to react for a few hours should be enough to ensure all chromium has been rendered non toxic." What a joke.
@@farbeyondsane2529no, definitely don’t do that. You need the hydrogen to be separated from the oxygen, or else it makes an explosion or flashback hazard.
Did he just say "Atomic Hydrogen Torch"? Yes, please! I think the only way this channel could get better is more videos, every single one is a banger, especially the ones where gasses go BANG as they combust. Cheers!
Gotta agree with you. These videos are at all just right. They explore some of the nooks and crannies that are often overlooked in all the other science channels. I look forward to all the videos on here
I'm pretty sure that he is speaking of what I know as an Ionized Hydrogen torch, whereby the gas flows through an electrical discharge arc which brings out the full usefulness of the fuel.
Back in the days and I was a lot younger, I tried a HHO generator with a small flashback arrestor like you have done. However it unfortunately did flash back into the electrode chamber, though because I made everything using marmite jars the resulting blow rendered most of the plastic fragments everywhere! The bang was so loud it threw me to the floor and I had ringing in my ears for quite a few minutes afterwards. Miraculously I didn't get hurt, not get any of those shards of plastic in me (at least not any I could feel), but I certainly had quite a bit more respect for the stuff afterwards. I still don't know why the water based flashback arrestor didn't work, but perhaps it was because it was too shallow a container, and when the initial blast occurred in there, it agitated enough of the water in that chamber for the hot gas to make its way into the feeder pipe, and violently back into the electrode chamber. I much prefer the idea of a split gas electrolyser now :)
@@cherylm2C6671 Never tried that ... not sure if it would make a difference though. A deeper column of solution however might be the thing to reduce the potential of a line of bubbles from combusting.
Ive had exactly the same happen to me when i was messing about with a very large hho generator made out of a plastic food lock box . The explosion was HUGE !! . Set a car alarm off, and i had shell shock just like in the movies . I heared ringing and white noise for 30 seconds or more . . My hand was Right on top of the cell ! My leg Right next to the cell ! . The cell got obliterated . But i was completely unharmed except for temporary heating loss ! 🤷♂️ . Not even any hairs burned on my arm ! 🤷♂️ . But i got completely covered in water 😅
I'm an SNHU student and I'm going to build this. Thank you NightHawkinLight! I'm taking chemistry now (finished physics!), so for my report I'll need to learn more about the reactions that are occurring at the level of molecules and describe that.
completely new education for me - retired electrical engineer - nicely done. - I'd seen very simple oxygen (and hydrogen) experiments before and of course I've known about cracking water also but not so much interesting info. Ya gotta be pretty good to keep me for 30 min. Interestingly and ironically I saw a few of these before yours and no one says anything about how unstable this stuff is. Hindenburg
Love watching these video presentations. Reminds me of my dad, a research chemist at Union Carbide's R&D Center for over 40 years. Every evening meal included a discussion on chemistry. I had a real "Mr. Wizard" for a father. How lucky.
Thank you for thank you the time to explain the risks of hho generation compared to separated collection. You are literally saving lives here. You have taken the time to explain the risks and dangers of playing around with this technology
28:01 Don't touch your face with a glove that might be full of very Alkaline solution ^^ ! And please be carefull with the toxic metals like chromium and stuffs that end up in the electrolyte with stainless steel corrosion. That's a nasty stuff for aquatic life ! Thank you for the cool content as always.
I've watched quite a few different designs for these kind things over the years (TKOR, Tested, random channels on youtube, etc) and I think this is the most accessible one I've seen yet
Good thing vote here people need information like this to make the world a better place. If only major companies are to know the secrets of the universe then we are all doomed.
you dont have to keep the information In a vault where only companies have access to it, it would be just nice if you could make sure ppl who learn it don't hurt themself like for example experimenting under supervision of ppl who already learned these mistakes
I was just trying to make one of these this morning! Perfect timing. I tried using soup cans, but the downside is you have to sand the insides because they're coated with something. I wanted to make a single container split output generator. Basically if the soup can is positive, and a smaller can (with an outside coating, only the inside would be metal) is submerged in it, the H2 gas will be generated only inside the smaller can and you can place a tube on it's bottom, which would be the top in this design. The cans can be internally separated by paper or a sock like you showed just in case. The benefit here is that it _can_ (no pun intended) function like both a single and split output. For single output just don't connect a tube and the gases will be mixed, you _can_ put the whole thing in a 2L bottle (I'm sure you could think of a better design), and if you want only one gas output then connect a tube to the smaller can. The surface area is small, but if you use large cans it won't be an big issue. Here is a diagram in case i didn't explain it well: __________ | ________ primary gas output | | | _ _ | |_ _ | | | H2 | | | | | | secondary gas output is discarded, but could be collected | | | | |__________| both gases are mixed if there is no tube on the small can ___________ | __________ combined gas output | | _ _ | | _ _ / \ /| _ _ | |_ _ |\ | | H2 | | | | | | | | | | |__________|
Intelligence delivered in such a down to earth manner. You have a humble desire for learning and an amazing skill to explain your process in a way everyone can understand. I find your quest for knowledge inspirational and relatable.
I remember commenting the wire wisk/ steel wool/ scrubber idea, and said make HHO generators from household components. Im amazed you actually read and listened
The only thing I would have changed is to have the electrodes connected to the "device" before connecting/disconnecting them to the PSU, that way any spark that is generated is always far away from the "device". Great project as always!
I thought the same. My take is have tabs with holes where the connections are and wires with lugs bolted right to the tabs. That way the wires/alligator clips are never accidentally knocked off while it is powered, which could cause a spark. Have a connector on the other end of your power cable.
@@JonasLingott No I do not mean H₂O gas aka steam. I meant HHO gas also known as Oxyhydrogen, Bronwn's gas or Knallgas, a mixture of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.
@@JonasLingott the electricity breaks the atomic bonds between the hydrogen and the oxygen - effectively you get (2)H2+O2 (HHO gas) instead of 2(H2O). Um... so basically, IF you heat water you DO get steam, which IS still H2O. If you pass electricity through, you no longer have steam - you have gas that is 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen. ... Am I making any sense? Sorry if this doesn't clarify anything for you.
Your clear explanations, engaging demonstrations, and genuine enthusiasm were a joy to watch. I especially loved different ways you explained to improve amount of gas You've sparked my curiosity about this technology and its potential, and I know countless others are learning thanks to your efforts. Keep up the incredible work - the world needs more science communicators like you! :)
I've watched multiple electrolysis of water videos, and this one has got to be my favorite. Well explained, and demonstrated. Your attention to safety precautions/concerns was also top notch. Eager to see more demonstrations!
You are either a LIAR or you are not qualified to make instructional videos!! Water doesnt get split into hydrogen or oxygen gas. Its the electrodes that gas off and generate hydrogen and oxygen. This has been tested and isolated. Introducing more metals to the process only RUINS your video. Potassium HYDROXIDE?? I wonder what that would breakdown to be.LOL! List to your explanation below.... "Several people have commented with the valid concern that using low quality stainless steel electrodes will contaminate the electrolyte solution with poisonous hexavalent chromium which is not safe to handle or dispose of. I have spent some time this afternoon coming up with a solution to this problem. When using a strongly alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH as your electrolyte the fix is easy: drop a small 1x1 inch piece of aluminum foil into the electrolyte and let it dissolve. Do not add more than a small piece of foil at a time or the reaction may be violent. The dissolving foil will cause any dangerous chromium to convert into a non toxic variation, Cr(iii), evidenced by a green precipitate. One or two pieces of foil dissolved in this way and allowed to react for a few hours should be enough to ensure all chromium has been rendered non toxic." What a joke. Watch Peter & Pete show you how it is NOT the water splitting to gas.
Nice, I'd like to add something about the Voltage vs. Efficiency relationship(which you hinted on several times, but didn't explain in detail, so many people probably didn't notice it) - any time you're going above the minimum practical voltage for electrolysis (~2.5v = ~80%), the maximum possible efficiency drops linearly (because the current performs the electrolysis and not the watts), so at 5v it's impossible to have more than a 40% efficienty and at 12v - around 15%. Or in other words, if you are supplying 12v to a single cell, by creating 5 cells with closer electrode spacing and connecting them in series, you'll produce 5 times more gas for the same input power.
That s exactly What I was going to point, this can be solved by adding 4 more socks and 5 stainless steel mesh and connecting the inner an the outer leaving floating the middle ones, at 12 volts the potential will distribute at around the 2.5 volts needed.
@@lacuentadevideos I've done some experimenting in the past and determined that you can't create neutral middle plates that way unfortunately, there has to be none or very little water connectivity between non nearby plates. If you just arrange plates one next to another and submerge them, 90% of the bubbles form just on the outer two, same with the concentric sock setup you're suggesting :( the reason obviously being that the lower resistance of the plate is not that much lower than the path around it through the electrolyte, as the plates are very thin. so its like two resistors with close values in parallel and you expecting all the current to flow through just one. A concentric pipe(not porous unlike the kitchen scrubbers) setup will work, but will be practical only for hho gas, its not easy to separate.
@@ratgreen yes. Thats the energy needed to separate Hydrogen and Oxygen in the water molecule. All the excess Voltage generates heat, thats why his cells heat so much.
Fascinating! I’d like to see that demonstrated. I was curious to know how industrial scale electrolysis for hydrogen & oxygen was done for things like Project Suntan & NASA.
Your videos are already more engaging than others due to your personality; what seems like genuine interest. Like I don't want to turn the video off, halfway through.
For the single output device: you could wrap the whisk in kite fabric and drill a second hole at the lid of the container for the oxygen to escape. The kite fabric allows the electrolysis to happen but acts as a membrane for the hydrogen and oxygen bubbles. Awsome video, Thanks!
I did an experiment like this twenty years ago using two 2-Liter bottles immersed in the same pan of water. But, what you did here is truly next level. Nice work!
I've never been even remotely close to a chemistry/physics experiment neither to the concepts nor the language it's self but I was able to follow up the whole process. This is how a well understood of a process can explain to a non initiated. well done sir! This is a lesson for every expert that buzzing his audience with crypt lingo... and that goes for me too... I guess!!!
I always love his home brew style of projects. I'm a big DIY fan myself, but I'm not the kind of person who can go out and buy expensive printers or machine shop tools. UA-cam is full of fantastic engineering channels, but it's discouraging to know the coolest projects are far beyond your reach if you don't have a university grant. NightHawkInLight does the most with the absolute least. He inspires me as much as the other guys, but in an even better way. I get the same feeling I felt as a teen scrapping the dump for parts. It reminds me anything is possible if I keep inspired and resourceful.
Something I'd like to point out... For most... The Hydrogen output is the focus for generating power... But a novelty I see in your setup is how easy and simple it is to make Oxygen for medical needs, like say after a hurricane ~ when everything is running on battery power! Awesome information!
That flash back arrester reminds me of something else from high school days ;) Really looking forward to the torch build, that's where my mind went before clicking the video!
I really enjoyed your demo. I was in high school science class and I remember asking my teacher "why don't we use hydrogen and oxygen to power a no pollution car?". His answer to me was "well, invent one". I just looked at my first "fuel cell" car today. I had to look up how they created electricity with hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell, and am so excited that this technology is actually happening. I wish I could have been part of the team that worked on this technology. Thanks so much and keep up the good work!
I always love seeing videos like this! Sure there are things you can do better, but this is a really good way to get people into science. It gives them something tangible to hold afterword and say "I made this, and it's cool."
& The world need the free energy, now more than ever.. Obviously the current/conventional system isn't very bright/smart/clever.. Most people just swallow their MANY lies, by now we are so used to being lied to, some people even start to believe their lies, cos it constantly happens...Repetition repetition n more repetition, goes strait to the subcon, & so people are far from aware of our(built in abilities)🥰
I've just started to get interested Hydrogen/Oxygen Generator, so very pleased with your demonstrations. I'm a retired electronic engineer, so this is a bit off the beaten track for me. I shall now start following you and learn more about this subject.
Thank you for all what you did: your language, the way you speak, makes it easy for my children to understand every piece of information you had mentioned. Thank you a lot
@@ytrew9717 makes an intentional weak point, so if the pressure increases dramaticaly it fractures the foil or blows out the plug, rather than the whole container exploding.
I ran over my cellphone lost all my stuff. After 5 mo. I found you. I like the way you present the experiments .its the same aproach I have. And a very thourgh segments.
My mind is swirling with all the things I can do with these setups- both split gas and combined. Thanks for sparking new ideas, especially as I've been feeling a little uninspired as of late.
Wonderful video, brought back fond memories from 45 years ago of making hydrogen in my bedroom using the transformer from my train set. BTW, It struck me while you were talking about the video’s sponsor that your Sponsor segments are always excellent. Not rushed, flow naturally from the content, nice demonstrations, and tie back into the overall theme of the channel. They are well represented when they support you!
Man, I am glad other people are playing with this. Great video, I built one of these out of PVC about 10 years ago. I connected them at the bottom to do a separate assembly, thinking that would be more powerful. Finding it hard to believe the h2 wasn't more powerful than the other, got a load of ideas to test now. The first one will be the sock idea. Thanks
I would suggest making sure to use a pressure rated bottle for the flashback arrester. I learnt the hard way that a water bottle turns into shrapnel pretty quickly...
two things i think might be ok with the setup... first, the output of the device is open air, which means the pressure does have an escape route. Second PET bottles tend to have quite a bit of pressure capacity and are fairly light to boot. That looked like a water bottle which is thinner than a carbonated beverage bottle. In this case, again in my unprofessional opinion, I think that would allow the bottle to deform giving the pressure time to escape via the output tube, and being thinner would rupture at lower pressures than a pressure rated device. I think an ideal setup would be something like a plastic food container that has a lid lose enough to pop off in case of explosion. a grease of some sort could be applied to the seal to help mitigate the potential leaking of the smaller hydrogen molecules.
It would not be as bad as learning the bad way that stainless steel on the anode side produces highly toxic Hexavalent Chromium, both in the water, and in the hydrogen released.
This guy is going to kill himself, or worse, cause a young person to be killed, if he continues on like this. He is completely uneducated and unskilled for this type of work.
I like your easy to understand experiments. The demonstration with the mixed gases popping was done well also. It shows the volatility of oxygen and hydrogen without causing a dangerous explosion. I did an experiment some years back. I wanted to ignite gasses from carbide and water by placing the vapor tube into a pail of water. Then I was going to lite the gas bubbles coming to the top of the water. Well I lit the bubbles, the fire traveled down under 2 inches of water and into the pipe, then into the glass generator. Yes it exploded. I had safety glasses on and was not harmed. Time to sweep up glass test tube pieces.
You are either a LIAR or you are not qualified to make instructional videos!! Water doesnt get split into hydrogen or oxygen gas. Its the electrodes that gas off and generate hydrogen and oxygen. This has been tested and isolated. Introducing more metals to the process only RUINS your video. Potassium HYDROXIDE?? I wonder what that would breakdown to be.LOL! List to your explanation below.... "Several people have commented with the valid concern that using low quality stainless steel electrodes will contaminate the electrolyte solution with poisonous hexavalent chromium which is not safe to handle or dispose of. I have spent some time this afternoon coming up with a solution to this problem. When using a strongly alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH as your electrolyte the fix is easy: drop a small 1x1 inch piece of aluminum foil into the electrolyte and let it dissolve. Do not add more than a small piece of foil at a time or the reaction may be violent. The dissolving foil will cause any dangerous chromium to convert into a non toxic variation, Cr(iii), evidenced by a green precipitate. One or two pieces of foil dissolved in this way and allowed to react for a few hours should be enough to ensure all chromium has been rendered non toxic." What a joke.
Have always loved watching your content, I've even used some of your ideas to build with a group of kids that I mentor. Really fun to learn new and amazing things. What made me sit up in my chair in this video was coming to the realization that you were wearing a Ten Minute Bible Hour hat! Love to see content creators shouting each other out, even if it's in subtle ways like this. Thanks for all the work you put into bringing us great content!
Would like to see useful applications for use of hydro gas besides tour help. Also comparison of cost of electricity to gain burning gas verses electric heating per set of BYU
The progression was simply beautiful to see and it was a joy to watch this. I think I'll be making the second last one sometime soon, thank you for the inspiration!
Would absolutely love to see the HHO torch come to fruition. I’ve been interested in building one for a while now but struggling to find a start. BIG LOVE on the viddy! Great as always!
I would really like to see exactly how that steel cannister fails if a flashback occurs without the bubbler (assuming you can safely and willingly do this, of course). It would make for some great footage *and* we'd get to see exactly what the danger is if we were to try this ourselves. As always, I love your videos. You've taught me a lot and I can't wait to see what you'll teach me next!
I can tel you from experience, the flashback travels up the tube instantly, and if your tube less than a centimeter in diameter, it’ll decide to blow the lid off your container instead of just exhausting. I was using a plastic container with less than a liter of air space. I imagine a good metal container with little breathing room could handle a flashback, but it can certainly tear through plastics. And it is what’s used for torches that need to melt through any metal
@@naturegirl1999 Getting grunge off the oven hob, getting baked-on spaghetti, rice, etc., from the inside of stainless-steel saucepans, etc. Don't use on non-stick, and don't use on [other] plastics. Also good for cleaning soldering iron bits, if you're of an engineering frame of mind; and I've used them (with spackle) to block up mouse-holes; the mice can't eat through the SS, easily :-)
@@Rose-ec6he We want *something* to fail, and that failure should do the least damage. Per previous comments, the rubber seal on a pressure cooker, or a foil blowout washer, are good choices; they depressurize, without blowing liquid around. Otherwise, if there's an explosion in a sealed system that's full of KOH or NaOH, the result probably won't be pretty.
@@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 I built one of those flat pack hho generators, i doubt the fish pump is needed, you'd be amazed how fast the water goes though.
@marthale7 Lower temp. Heat will cause it to use more power. That's why they make hho gen's dry cells as the have a separate container for the solution to be able to cool down.
OXY HYDROGEN TORCH! I would love to see a very big, safe as possible, "refillable" cutting torch ,made on the cheap, that only needs water/electrolyte/power to run
I'd really like to see the system used to compress the gas. In my mind I would have a series of pumps separated by high tensile strength tubbing running through water.
They use these types of torches in jewelers repair shops. They sell them on the internet. They're about 200usd and are very useful because they're considered to be a "cold flame" but actually reach a few thousand °degrees.
Congratulations NightHawkInLight on this very well structured and educational video. I love the fact that you start with your first prototypes and build from there. I have built many an electrolyzer and have to compliment you on your practical designs especially with the combined gas electrolyzer. The sock design is ingenious - I would have thought that frayed wires from the scourer pads might protrude through the sock and cause electrical shorts. Very practical and simple design! Just one remark on you mentioning that the electricity passes through the liquid (6:45 and 7:30). It is correct to say that charged ions form at the electrodes and these complete the electrical conduction path in the liquid when they migrate between electrodes. "Electricity" is the flow of electrons which is not true for the electrolyte. I used to say to my students that "electrons cannot swim". Thanks for you great work here!
Science class was one of my favorites in school, but they weren't teaching anything on electrolysis. That's why I love everything you do and especially because you're going right down the middle of that electrolysis hgwy! Great stuff and it just goes to show that you really can teach an old dog like myself new tricks! Thank you, 👍
@@dunuth To indoctrinate you....You are either a LIAR or you are not qualified to make instructional videos!! Water doesnt get split into hydrogen or oxygen gas. Its the electrodes that gas off and generate hydrogen and oxygen. This has been tested and isolated. Introducing more metals to the process only RUINS your video. Potassium HYDROXIDE?? I wonder what that would breakdown to be.LOL! List to your explanation below.... "Several people have commented with the valid concern that using low quality stainless steel electrodes will contaminate the electrolyte solution with poisonous hexavalent chromium which is not safe to handle or dispose of. I have spent some time this afternoon coming up with a solution to this problem. When using a strongly alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH as your electrolyte the fix is easy: drop a small 1x1 inch piece of aluminum foil into the electrolyte and let it dissolve. Do not add more than a small piece of foil at a time or the reaction may be violent. The dissolving foil will cause any dangerous chromium to convert into a non toxic variation, Cr(iii), evidenced by a green precipitate. One or two pieces of foil dissolved in this way and allowed to react for a few hours should be enough to ensure all chromium has been rendered non toxic." What a joke.
Nice explanation! I just produced my own version of a combined sock version and your single output electrolysis item. Of course I wasn't yet educated with the seriousness of the danger of a single collection of the gasses. your slow mo explosion was very useful to see what actually happened to me. I was hoping to ignite the gas as a flame, but it went right back to the suppressor and blew the plastic lid off it like a few m80s bound together. I like your dual collection example, and I'm going to look for your oxy-hydrogen torch video. Thank you again. I'm dumb enough to try this without completely understanding the explosive danger. But now I know and I am fortunate that my B omb didn't hurt me or someone else. Thank you again for the detail. (I had 3 marine 12 v batteries in series to provide the electricity, two steel all threads about 7" each, into a plastic container with one 3/4" gas tube exiting to the suppressor, with the final 1/2" tube from the suppressor to what I was hoping to be my gas manifold. The manifold only served as the ignition spot (used a lighter) for the bullet of gas that traveled back up the 1/2" tube to the top of the suppressor where there was enough gas for a very large plastic lid explosion. The lid fragmented over a large area. My explosion was not slo-mo.)
As an 8 year old scientist while living in Geneva, Switzerland, I couldn't wait to get the portable humidifier to start "humidifying". In the 1960's, the electrodes were exposed, and about 2" apart. and the top was removable to fill it with water. The voltage in Switzerland, is 220V.. The volume of the DeVilbis glass humidifier was about 2 liters. I plugged it in & I experimented by adding salt to it. I remember adding more and more salt an I saw what now I could describe a corona effect around the electrodes, then adding even more salt, the coronas joined and an arc formed. I boiled 2 liters old water in 10 minutes! When I took the electrodes out, they were just stumps! That started my "mad scientist" career! When I came to the U.S. while in HS I learned Electronics, got an Extra Class Amateur Radio license, built my very own 2KW PEP push-pull linear amplifier,, with 2 Eimac 3--500z's, built directional antennas, experimented with helicoidal phased arrays, and achieved "Moon-bounce" in UHF. My undergrad was biology, and all the electronics I learned was by reading and trial and error.! Several " unexplained"all neighborhood blackouts ... Had loads of fun when I found out my elderly neighbors were watching me work outside with 2KW on the 10 20 meter band, adjusting very directional Yagi antennas. When I was sure they were watching me, I remotely keyed the Collins S line transmitter with the amp tuned to 1000W. CW, and took fluorescent tubes on my hands and got them to light up. I am sure at least one of them ways was convinced I was some kind or warlock / devil worshiper. I worked hard part time and weekends as a TV repairman and an electrician to be able to pay for my experiments. . Ultimately, I went to Medical school and am now a physician! I miss those crazy times, now in my late 60's!
My friend and I made one with stainless steel plates and a water filter housing something like 17 or 18 years ago. The issue has always been Amp draw and do to that heat. The remedy is using a frequency generator to pulse the power and reduce Amp draw while still producing the same or great amount of HHO.
Thanks for the GREAT demo!! It reminds me of when I was a kid in the 50's doing electrolysis when I didn't know much about what I was doing. I used 120 vac (since that was what was available) and thereby combined the hydrogen and Oxygen. I wish I remembered more about what the results were, but I do remember making explosions. I have a slight memory of using salt as the electrolyte.
I have a story with combined hho cell. When I was a kid I heard somewhere that if you pass electricity through water with a little bit of salt it's gonna produce hydrogen and oxygen and I thought hmmm.... Interesting, let's try it. So I got a mason jar hammered some nails into it and hooked it up to a phone charger and heared some sizzling and smelled chlorine, I tried to light it but there wasn't enough gas so I left it running for about 10 minutes and tried to light it. HUGE BANG nails shot up and some were actually stuck in the ceiling lid looked like a bowl, the disgusting brown-green water splashed everywhere including the ceiling and the jar itself miraculously survived. Moments after my mom ran into the room asking what the hell happened. My ears were ringing for 2 days. I was a genius
lmao I remember when I was 14 I did something similar with a pack of plastic water bottles, fish tank bubbler tube, and stripped phone wire. I thought I could make a torch if I put a one way valve on the thing... worked for a while until it backfired into the 24 bottles producing HHO. learned really quick one way valves dont prevent this ;P
I just used a 9v battery with alligator clip wires in a film canister in the sink. Much smaller scale, but when I introduced a lighter, it still popped pretty loudly.
Hi! Your video is awesome and the ideas of electrolysis you introduced are briliant just because they are easy, cheap and very effective. The level of your efficiency/cost and work ratio is unavailable for other projects! Your methods are the best! Thank you for this video!
Fantastic project. I've seen others that are complicated with plates and bolts etc. I really liked the contained dual output. In a pinch, the sock method would suffice. Great stuff.
Man I have been watching you for years now, you are simply put! “ The Man” love most of your videos ( I’m sure I would love them all if my interest was as broad as yours) keep it up brother GREAT stuff!!
I really like the whisk and scouring pad electrode idea, that is great. I have been playing with HHO designs here and there for a bit. Never have come up with anything I’m too comfortable running yet, or anything that runs well for very long. Still working the bugs out. My main objective is to make a jewelry torch out of it. I know you can buy the units online but I’d rather learn something by making one. That’s just the geek I’ve always been. Great vid. Keep up the good work. Cant wait to see where this goes.
I'll probably buy a HHO cell from Ebay, and a torch from AliExpress. DIY is fine, but I'd prefer kit that someone else had QA'd, for torch work. Tools should "just work". Despite I have lots of electrochemistry and blowtorch years, "Buy don't build" means I can play in a week or two, rather than (more-expensive) months :-)
@@theskett : True. But my situation is a bit different. While I can surely find uses for an HHO torch. I’m not in need of such torch. I’m disabled and run off in weird directions, building odd things to fill my time.
When I was a kid I did this with a canning jar, eyebolts and a car battery charger. I added soap to the electrolyte and was popping the bubbles with a red hot nail and enjoying the little pops of brown's gas.. This suddenly back burned into the can and exploded the lid off my canning jar. Most of the water was blown everywhere, the lid disappeared and the canning jar did not move. I was super lucky that the jar did not turn into a grenade and kill me.. Heh.. the things you do as a kid 😬
As (also) a kid, I lit a tiny fire and, from a yard above, poured gunpowder outta half-full jelly jar, to watch the trail of sparks as the fire climbed up the powder trail. Eventually the sparks climbed all the way to the jelly-jar; there was a hella "whoosh", the jar cracked and dropped out of my hand, and I received only minor on-the-hand burns (ok in a week... :-) Good times, I still have two hands :-)
Actually did some hydrogen experiments in my room long a go and almost lunched my electroliser through the roof :D. Also i burned my fingers frequently. One time i did it with a cotton ball soaked with lighter fluid. Had a little to much fluid on there. Went to put them out covered my hand in lighter fluid. Didn't notice. Relit the balls and in turn my whole hand. Fun times. Minor burns great story
@@TheNightwalker247 Good stuff. I mostly set myself on fire with methylated spirit or sulfur (both burn with a very pale blue flame, barely visible, y'know). We coulda been friends, but we'da have to maintain better-than-social-distancing (20ft?) so we didn't set fire to each other :-)
@@theskett i turned to less flammable obsession like mountainbiking with a gravelbike 😂 fire pois look fun tho And yes 20feet sound's like a good safety margin
Thanks for your video, Night Hawk! To make tip-overs less likely, you might glue the bottom of your containers to a large wood base. That setup would be more bulky, but it should stay where you put it.
This is a really good video and anyone who is into alternative and cheap fuels which is probably everyone will like this video too. Good job at simplifying HHO fuel technology, HHO fuel can run any engine that has a spark plug and it can be used for heating, cooking, cutting, etc
@@solomonheppner just do a search on UA-cam, one thing you can do to test it is bowl full of water put a battery charger on it for a few seconds then take a lighter to it the water is flammable when electricity is going through it and it’s just as powerful as gasoline
@@louderbackbarry "just as powerful as gasoline" ....former hazmat tech bud.....i can absolutely say that they aren't comparable in literally explosive potential. HHO has a vastly higher expansion rate and destructive potential even if both are in gaseous state. If you really dont know of any, fine, i can spend a few more minutes on youtube.
This was really cool to see. Thank you for making it look so doable for someone like me! Now to explore uses of hydrogen and oxygen as a fuel for an off grid generator!
@@Gundesalf I am not a chemist by any means, but I don't think there's enough chromium to do that in any significant quantity in the size electrode he was using. Might be waaaay off though.
.@@dontquestionjustbelieve5757 pmsl. Inspired anarchist thinking thank you! Big brained is just no longer cool. Scientism, as a religion is now out, lol.🤣🤣🤣
@@dontquestionjustbelieve5757 just a bit of knowledge gained from looking into over-unity devices. The water powered car was supposed to do something like that.
@@fred_e In reality, it doesn't. There are a lot of wild claims out there about the resonance of water, and the resonance of the electrodes and certain frequencies being better or worse at dissociating the water... I spent a few years looking at all of this, and a fair bit of money getting a 2400x1200mm sheet of 1mm 308L stainless laser cut into plates to build a cell. That's about as far as I got before it went on the back burner. The biggest efficiency increase this dude could make, is to stick to the 2.3v(?) "ideal" voltage for the Potassium Hydroxide electrolyte. Any higher than that and most of the power goes to heating the electrolyte and destroying the electrodes.
Hi, in order to scale up your setup you might want to apply layered socks and mesh over each other with alternate polarities. Better yet, stack two long strips of 'sock' and SS material then roll into a cylindrical shape, similar to the way capacitors are made. Just an observation, thank you.
Nighthawk, you bring some of the most astounding, functional science to the masses. Building HO generators out of grocery store materials, or allowing people to experiment with "Starlite" is way, way more useful than a LCD panel using 10% less energy!
That was great fun and brought back so many memories of me doing this as a quite young boy *many* decades ago (didn't know about catalysts and my electrodes were just wires). I would agree that the separated design is far more useful.
Love your videos. Everytime I start to source information for a new project or interest, I, invariably, come across one of your videos and become completely enthralled in the topic, regardless of my original intention. So I guess thank you for sparking interest and inspiring me and mine to explore additional scientific pursuits while leaving me dumfounded at what my original task was.
I've never commented on a youtube video before but this video is tremendously competent. Well filmed, well presented by someone who knows what they are talking about and the detailed description pretty much forestalls any possible questions. A fascinating subject and thank God, no bloody awful music.. Good man, thanks so much.
Great explanations. Thanks for showing the mutiple versions you made instead of only showing the best one its helpful to know the problems that occurred and what needs to be changed. Have great fun in your lab! Definatly enjoyed watching, thanks.
I voted and subscribed for more after viewing this video as one of the best done, comprehensive practical science documentary rounded by your interesting debates, too! Clever designs, well explained from this genius may easily gets you addicted to a lot of new hobbies...Congratulations and many thanks to you all for sharing your great knowledge about!
A roll of stainless steel window screen using two pieces (the outer one slightly longer, but same width) rolled up and sandwiched between a cotton insulator (towel) works amazingly well. Lots of surface area! You can make super small devices that produce a ton of gas!
My physics teatcher in high school filled a big barrel with HHO, placed it out on the ice, lit a match and the rest is history. He survived but it was he who hade to go to the principal's office. 😂
@@boomiTech nothing more to say I'm sorry to say. Cant remember how he lit it but it was that kinda barrel with a detatcheble lid so it flew to the next county and the ice cracked. But every student stood in the school building and cheered on. Mind you it was a cold winter so it was about 1 meter (3 feet) of ice and it was about 40 yrs ago. _I'm so fucking old_
@@Brandywine6969 I hope you becomes a teacher, the one we all love. Wreckless and fun but hard as nails when its needed. _you borne in 1969 or are you just a master of it?_
I've never built a HHO generator before, but I remember launching rockets with it when I was a little kid! I don't know if they sell them anymore, but back in the early 2000s, Estes used to sell "hydrogen powered rocket kits". It was basically a stomp rocket with a single-output "hydrogen reactor" built into the bottom of the stand. You would load it with water and citric acid, arm it, and launch it with a remote control. I doubt it produced nearly as much HHO gas as your designs, but man that thing launched FAR!!
When trying to drill a hole that is the exact size for a tube (a rod can also work if it is small like a coat hanger), you can chuck the tube directly into the drill and use it as the bit.
I had a lot of fun doing these experiments about 12 years ago. I ended on some conclusions. Straight DC is okay, but when you get to playing around with pulsed DC, you can really go crazy. I ramped my voltage up to about 5KV and was able to adjust my frequency to about 1-2 kHz and able to adjust the duty cycle as I saw fit. Last set of toying with it was to use pure water with no electrolyte, and having a resistance monitoring system to automatically adjust the duty cycle based on water quality. And that's when I reached the end of my skill set. I'll hit it back up when I learn to code.
If he was really using pulse DC he's allowing the voltage to do the work instead of the amps raw bulldozing power I've done many post DC setups myself with compound plate setups and found that you can do as much with 100 volts and 1 amp as you can with 5 volts 10 amps if we could ever find the true harmonic resonance of the particular sample of water we were using you could dematerialize it all at once hydrogen bomb status
@@shfahim7938 Well, being pulsed power means that the average current draw may not be overly high. It would still be interesting to know though. What is the advantage of pulsed power? Does it simplify power delivery or increase efficiency? The absence of electrolyte is certainly a nice benefit.
@@taylormayhew369 from somewhere on the internet: ‘The wavelength of the far infrared rays range from 4 microns to 1000 microns. The recent studies in biotechnology field revealed that the far-infrared rays played an important role for formation and growth of all living organisms. For this reason, these specific far-infrared rays are called "biogenetic rays". Water and proteins are the integral parts of all living organisms on Earth. Water molecules are always oscillating. If water molecules are exposed to oscillating action of 8-10 micron wavelength (same as the wavelength of water molecular oscillation), the "resonance" occurs between the two oscillations. The resonance causes ionization of water into hydrogen ion and hydroxide ion at extremely high speed (10/12 sec). This ionization is called "water activation." ‘ It’s either this or above 22 GHz
A PVC pipe full of D cells, an old aquarium, some of mom's butterknives and a trash bag and some wire. Thats what we used. Mom was delighted that we were having fun with science, getting excited about making little bubbles... until we started lighting off the bag full of hydrogen at sunset every night XD
If you make one of these, make sure the power supply is OFF when you connect or disconnect the clamps to the electrodes. If the supply is on, it will case a bit of arcing. if you have been leaking HHO, then the arc will instantly ignite the HHO and you will have a very bad day (potentially your last one)
So electrolysis is something that I've poked at a bit in my chemistry filled days. People push for basic hydroxide salts in alot of the scientific literature is real, but they're not ideal, as noted in the video, but it goes beyond the general safety issue. Hydroxides (potassium or sodium hydroxide) both digest a range of materials; Glass, most metals, ceramics, etc... The plastic degradation seen in the video is actually slow. First, rather than a single electrolyte, you should use a buffered solution. This is a mixture of salts that, when dissolved, easily form a pH gradient in the system, and buffer the system overall towards a certain pH. Buffered pH will help ion formation and movement, but it might bias the gas formation at one electrode (cathode or anode, depending on mixture used). An example of a buffered solution that would be easy is sodium carbonate, potassium hydroxide, and sodium bicarbonate. FYI, This solution actually bias towards oxygen production, and a pH around 10, depending on exact concentrations. It also off-gases carbon dioxide at times. Second, The original video is a 1 electrolyte setup. So, with the 1 electrode version, you can use that to setup a 2 electrolyte system, with a oxygen electrode in a steel bottle connected by a strip of metal to a steel bottle with a hydrogen electrode. That stops it from being a single electrode HHO generator. Dual electrolyte systems have some advantages because you can use 2 electrolytes that favor the gas at their respective electrode. So... say sodium silicate and potassium hydroxide on the oxygen side, and ammonium sulfate and magnesium sulfate on the hydrogen side. Thirdly, and somewhat telling of my own bias here, hydroxides as electrolyte came into favor with HHO enthusiasts because hydroxides react with aluminium to produce hydrogen all on their own without electricity. The hydroxides react with elemental aluminium to form a large solvation complexes that nearly instantly vents the hydrogen to form aluminates. These zeolites made correct calculation of what was going on in the generators difficult, and many claims of free energy came out of it. Finally, in case this wasn't clear, every electrolyte will have a "Bias" towards either the cathode or the anode, and, as a result, a bias towards one gas or another, depending on electrolyte. Regardless of electrolyte used, you can overcome any bias by simply throwing more electricity at the problem, but efficiency might be a thing you consider.
I don't understand the aspect of "bias". Something doesn't gel. When you split 2 H2O molecules, it has to produce 2 H2 and 1 O2, correct? Do you mean more of the gas will form at either electrode? Unless the hydrogen or oxygen is simply disappearing it must mean that both hydrogen and oxygen are being produced on at least one electrode. That also doesn't make sense. Or does your "bias" refer to energy efficiency? As in, one electrode might have a lower potential to produce the same amount of hydrogen/oxygen if it uses the correct electrolyte?
@@Bob_Lob_Law Kinda. "Bias" is an intentional over simplification for my convenience. Standard electrochemical cells all have fairly in depth math that goes hand in hand with them. Explaining out the concept without getting into the calculus helps highlight practical things that might not come across otherwise. Adding extra bits like a electrochemical process that produces a product (hydrogen gas), adds a secondary layer to it. First, as a type of electrochemical cell, Electrolysis cells are going to have one side that's more "Spontaneous", and different electrolytes can change which side that is. This could be viewed as "Efficient" but, it's more accurate to simply describe it as the side that occurs first. Second, some electrolytes, especially while being driven by electrical differentials, can undergo secondary chemical reactions, and absorb oxygen or hydrogen from the surround environment. Halides, pnictides, and sulfides can all absorb oxygen from solution. Halides, in particular, can be dangerous when they absorb oxygen. Hypochlorites are manufactured this way but so are perchlorates, with the main difference just being temperature and concentration of chlorides. Sulfates and carbonates can both absorb hydrogen and hold on to it for extended periods of time, and both vent non-hydrogen gases. Finally, because I don't think I specifically said this in my first comment, silicates and borates are much safer alternative to hydroxides, but borates can still absorb some amount of oxygen as the system gets hotter. I'm going to mess with antimonials one day, and I think that will be the better hydrogen electrode, but that's kind of a side story that would launch a youtube career.
Awesome video, Sir! I've been making these since I was 12. I got the basics down when my Dad and Grandpa were trying to run a Toyota Corolla off of hydrogen during the oil embargo gas wars in the '70s. They accomplished their goal, and the car engine ran for about 30 seconds until it exploded! Thank God they and I were hiding some distance away behind some sandbags with a sheet of plywood in front of it. Even then it didn't seem like my ears were ever going to stop ringing. Its funny because at the time, my Grandpa owned 13 acres across the highway from the former Texas Stadium in Irving, TX. and they did that in front of his garage which was in direct line of sight of the stadium The explosion was so great it shattered the windows on the side of their house and cracked the sheetrock. And the heat from the blast turned the concrete into bright white crumbling ash. It registered on seismographs somewhere, and in no time, every law enforcement agency was at the house. They weren't jailed or even ticketed. On the contrary, they seemed to be somewhat impressed. They scolded them sternly, saying they could not continue any experiments without a mountain of permits, and it had to be in a rural area that was equipped to government specifications. So, I have been thinking about that day and what they did wrong all of my life. When I was 32, the proverbial lightbulb appeared over my head after using some ether to start a diesel engine. As I heard the ether mix with the diesel and listened to the engine race, I thought, "Bingo!" Instead of running on pure hydrogen, I decided to mix it with gasoline in such a way that as far as the ECM on the car was concerned, I was running higher octane fuel, and then the magic happened. The computer made the necessary adjustments. As a result, the vehicle went from getting 350 miles per tank to almost 500 miles per tank. If you are reading this, let me stop here and say, DO NOT TRY IT! I studied this for year's and even then, I took a major risk. It can be done safely, but you can easily turn yourself into a flash of hydrogen vapor if you are not extraordinarily careful! Now back to my story. I also tried to use inexpensive materials and made electrolyzing cells using a 3-inch schedule 40 PVC sewer pipe with a cap glued on the bottom and a screw-in cap on the top. I tried many things for my anodes and cathodes but finally settled on stainless steel all thread. And like you, I used a multitude of different electrolytes until I decided on potassium hydroxide. The all-thread worked brilliantly because I could attach wires securely to the outside poles, and when they corroded, I unscrewed the lid, spent a couple of minutes with a wire brush, and then put it back together. I built six of these and secured them in a milk crate. A piece of Plexiglas separated the oxygen and hydrogen and fed it into an oxygen/acetylene regulator. That allowed me to vent the oxygen safely out and regulate the hydrogen flow that was piped into the air intake of my 2001 Ford Taurus. There is a rural town near me with a 16-mile long loop that circles the city through rural farmland. I spent months with that car on cruise control, going around and around that loop on cruise control, videoing every step of the way. I could literally turn the regulator to increase the flow and feel the car rev up. I worked in Irving at the time and lived in East Texas. So, I had an incentive considering fuel prices soared after 9/11. That worked very well until a Dallas cop got beside me in the canyon in downtown Dallas. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw my electrolyzing hydrogen units in a milk crate secured to the passenger’s seat with the seatbelt. He pulled me over, and God smiled down on me that day because he also had a curious interest in what I was doing. But, he warned me that just because I was lucky and got stopped by a cop who was a fellow science geek, that does not mean I will be as fortunate the next time. He politely waited while I disassembled everything and put it in the trunk. Then, before he left, he grinned and said, considering that could be adapted into a hydrogen bomb, I'd put it back in my shop if I were you before you end up in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while you wait on the FBI bomb squad to disassemble everything to see exactly what it is. I heeded his warning, and it is still on the back corner of my workbench. I thought I was the only one attempting to build a fuel cell on a budget. It did my heart good to see your video just now. We did many things the same way, including using water as a blowback preventing check valve of sorts. Your video was great, and I can't wait to watch more of what you have posted! Take good care, my fellow mad scientist! *** ATTENTION*** I purposely left off some steps so that none of you would accidentally hurt yourselves attempting to copy my work. I do not care about sharing the idea, but I care about your well-being. This is meant for information purposes and is not a complete step-by-step design. I cannot stress the danger of this enough. It can cause bodily harm up to and including death.
You did an amazing job utilizing readily available items. One thing I would like to point out is that, even with the modifications to collect the gas separately the gasses collected is still infact HHO (maybe just in a lower presumably safer concentration). I have carried out similar experiments to stop gas cross contamination and I can confidently say gas separation isn't easily achievable without some kind of membrane.
Several people have commented with the valid concern that using low quality stainless steel electrodes will contaminate the electrolyte solution with poisonous hexavalent chromium which is not safe to handle or dispose of. I have spent some time this afternoon coming up with a solution to this problem. When using a strongly alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH as your electrolyte the fix is easy: drop a small 1x1 inch piece of aluminum foil into the electrolyte and let it dissolve. Do not add more than a small piece of foil at a time or the reaction may be violent. The dissolving foil will cause any dangerous chromium to convert into a non toxic variation, Cr(iii), evidenced by a green precipitate. One or two pieces of foil dissolved in this way and allowed to react for a few hours should be enough to ensure all chromium has been rendered non toxic.
I applaud the efforts to "neutralize" the Cr(VI) with a reducing agent but since you're still running the electrolysis cell you will be electrochemically oxidizing Cr(III) back to Cr(VI).
I did notice how low it was, Thanks to the Automatic Gain Control.
By your reaction and the bang that was very close to a small size firework payload detonating next to you.
not fun.
also, you forgot to mention that spark are generating by pretty much any voltage.
as low as 1 volt.
don't how many amperes one needs for that, however is clear that it can be very dangerous when using poorly secure connections.
@@dandan-gf4jk I don't mind some dilute Cr(VI) when it's contained inside the cell, so long as there's a means to neutralize it prior to storage or disposal. Actually, since Cr(III) is extremely insoluble it's unlikely you would convert it back once reduced. You only have to deal with what forms fresh off the positive electrode.
@@Nighthawkinlight Then we might have different priorities, I was quite unhappy to find my SS cathode corrode because I left it in solution. In general having Cr(VI) in solution is better than having solid dust flying around, but still di/chromates are somewhat potent carcinogens so it would be beneficial to inform people that they probably shouldn't spill the water on themselves :P
you should check the PH value of the two containers in your first unit, before and after running it for a while because I am betting you have a slow return of the component of potassium back to one of the containers after it has been drawn to one of the electrodes in side with only a small hole and path to run back into the other side to equalize again. (look into chloro-alki cells used to split sodium chloride into hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, by way of a barrier that the components wont pass back through after being pulled or forced through or attracted by the inbalance of positive and negative charges. )
I love that you include the designs that didn't work that well and don't just skip to the final prototype.
It's the fact that this person includes details like this that really makes him relatable.
@@fred_e not just that, it also serves as lessons for us that he had to learn by trail and error, which is a Large reason I watch this, as I can use that for theory crafting in my head
Yes! Seeing the experimentation and process is what makes this an amazing science channel and not just a neat tutorial channel.
Exactly!
Ya the perspective it give you helps
I remember in my high school science class, my teacher demonstrated an hho device he had made. He used it to fill an upside down 2 litre coke bottle with the hho gas. He then sat the bottle at a 45 degree angle on a special launch rod he had made, removed the cap and held a flame to the end. The resulting explosion launched the bottle across the room, and into the brick wall on the opposite side, crushing the bottle to about half its length. Extremely dangerous to do in a classroom, but it was an awesome demonstration of the power of hydrogen and how to extract it from water. It is a science lesson i will never forget.
Thanks!
Awesome story 😊
Yes, this must've been years ago. The liability issues these days disallow making science classes fun and interesting anymore. I have a nephew, both he and his wife are teachers. They were not even allowed to let their students outside for the eclipse the other day. Sad. Really sad. But, not to worry I suppose, there's always drag queen story hour to look forward to 🙄.
@RyshusMojo1 this would have been about 2003 or 2004. I doubt it would be possible today without getting in major trouble
@@RyshusMojo1 thats downright dangerous, maybe if he did it outside it would be fine, but imagine if it slammed into a kid instead.
I built a HHO generator, my design, and ran the HHO into the air intake of my 3.8ltr engine. I used baking soda as an electrolyte rather than the caustic liquids. Worked great. I started no HHO at 22 mpg hiway/city and increased it to 28mpg hiway/city with HHO. I used a pulsed width modulator to pulse the current on the plates and a pot to control DC voltage. This took alot of experimenting to get this far in performance. The gas was not stored and used as it was created. On the highway I averaged 32 mpg. On flat ground no wind mpg went as high as 42mpg. I still have the generator in my shop. I stopped investigating and many other things because of my health. It was a lot of fun. The biggest generator I made was for a 454 cubic inch engine.
You mind sharing a schematic of how you connected it all together?
@@ItsStarsonic I found the pulse width mod with the pot for DC voltage on line. This was 20 years ago. I have no idea where the designs are. HHO is a big community, look around you'll find what you need and build it your way after a while.
@@bradcurtis5324any recommended websites?
Sorry, but you're delusional. You clearly have no idea how to measure using statistics.
You know when you find a UA-camr so good and entertaining that you actually watch their sponsored segments?
Two useful suggestions:
1. the anode could be replaced to 「2.0mm Mechanical Pencil Core」which is cheap, replaceable, easy-get, inert. Each core is a 14cm long, 2.0mm diameter graphite stick. It won't generate any poisonous ions. Though the graphite pencil core can disolve to poders gradually, it's really cheap and easy to replace.
2. If the pure oxygen is not useful, the anode bottle could be omitted, just attach the anode at the outer surface of cathode bottle. So the graphite anode could be more easyer to replace.
Your video is really great.
You are either a LIAR or you are not qualified to make instructional videos!! Water doesnt get split into hydrogen or oxygen gas. Its the electrodes that gas off and generate hydrogen and oxygen. This has been tested and isolated. Introducing more metals to the process only RUINS your video. Potassium HYDROXIDE?? I wonder what that would breakdown to be.LOL! List to your explanation below....
"Several people have commented with the valid concern that using low quality stainless steel electrodes will contaminate the electrolyte solution with poisonous hexavalent chromium which is not safe to handle or dispose of. I have spent some time this afternoon coming up with a solution to this problem. When using a strongly alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH as your electrolyte the fix is easy: drop a small 1x1 inch piece of aluminum foil into the electrolyte and let it dissolve. Do not add more than a small piece of foil at a time or the reaction may be violent. The dissolving foil will cause any dangerous chromium to convert into a non toxic variation, Cr(iii), evidenced by a green precipitate. One or two pieces of foil dissolved in this way and allowed to react for a few hours should be enough to ensure all chromium has been rendered non toxic."
What a joke.
#2, put the rod on the outside of the bottle?
One small issue is the surface area of the rod, as I expect the gas production will be low..
@@Eduardo_Espinozano, inside the bottle
@@farbeyondsane2529no, definitely don’t do that. You need the hydrogen to be separated from the oxygen, or else it makes an explosion or flashback hazard.
I am eighty years young but I still enjoy these kind of programs and the way you put it across to your audience thank you .
Agree at 76 YO 😅
dammmmmm!
@dougbas3980 Love you both young souls
I love how the oxygen tube in the setup emphasises your point perfectly with a little puff of visible gas at 14:22! Classic 👌
Thank You for everything your post. Just saying this so you don't ever stop. Thank You.
Did he just say "Atomic Hydrogen Torch"? Yes, please! I think the only way this channel could get better is more videos, every single one is a banger, especially the ones where gasses go BANG as they combust. Cheers!
Gotta agree with you. These videos are at all just right. They explore some of the nooks and crannies that are often overlooked in all the other science channels. I look forward to all the videos on here
Honest question; are you expecting nukes of some sort? H2 is molecular hydrogen (two H atoms bonded) atomic hydrogen is a single H atom
@@captainboing ,Wondering The Same Thing…Honestly
I'm pretty sure that he is speaking of what I know as an Ionized Hydrogen torch, whereby the gas flows through an electrical discharge arc which brings out the full usefulness of the fuel.
I heard oxy-hydrogen torch but an atomic hydrogen torch would be really cool. The heat is generated from the atomic hydrogen combining and become H2
Back in the days and I was a lot younger, I tried a HHO generator with a small flashback arrestor like you have done. However it unfortunately did flash back into the electrode chamber, though because I made everything using marmite jars the resulting blow rendered most of the plastic fragments everywhere! The bang was so loud it threw me to the floor and I had ringing in my ears for quite a few minutes afterwards. Miraculously I didn't get hurt, not get any of those shards of plastic in me (at least not any I could feel), but I certainly had quite a bit more respect for the stuff afterwards. I still don't know why the water based flashback arrestor didn't work, but perhaps it was because it was too shallow a container, and when the initial blast occurred in there, it agitated enough of the water in that chamber for the hot gas to make its way into the feeder pipe, and violently back into the electrode chamber. I much prefer the idea of a split gas electrolyser now :)
Would adding thickener to the flashback solution help?
@@cherylm2C6671 Never tried that ... not sure if it would make a difference though. A deeper column of solution however might be the thing to reduce the potential of a line of bubbles from combusting.
@@HemonDey That will work for me!
Ive had exactly the same happen to me when i was messing about with a very large hho generator made out of a plastic food lock box
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The explosion was HUGE !!
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Set a car alarm off, and i had shell shock just like in the movies
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I heared ringing and white noise for 30 seconds or more
.
.
My hand was Right on top of the cell !
My leg Right next to the cell !
.
The cell got obliterated
.
But i was completely unharmed except for temporary heating loss ! 🤷♂️
.
Not even any hairs burned on my arm ! 🤷♂️
.
But i got completely covered in water 😅
I'm an SNHU student and I'm going to build this. Thank you NightHawkinLight!
I'm taking chemistry now (finished physics!), so for my report I'll need to learn more about the reactions that are occurring at the level of molecules and describe that.
The cashier seeing him at Walmart hauling whisks and scouring pads: “This guy sure loves pancakes and must be hoarding for the zombie apocalypse.”
Plus (don't tell the cashier), he's making explosives. Either way, it's good :-)
😄
Or he is a very messy cook 😛
The average person should absolutely NOT be doing this stuff and especially not him. If he was going to do this at all, it should have been outside.
Hoarding split water that is
completely new education for me - retired electrical engineer - nicely done. - I'd seen very simple oxygen
(and hydrogen) experiments before and of course I've known about cracking water also but not
so much interesting info. Ya gotta be pretty good to keep me for 30 min.
Interestingly and ironically I saw a few of these before yours and no one says anything
about how unstable this stuff is.
Hindenburg
Love watching these video presentations. Reminds me of my dad, a research chemist at Union Carbide's R&D Center for over 40 years. Every evening meal included a discussion on chemistry. I had a real "Mr. Wizard" for a father. How lucky.
Thank you for thank you the time to explain the risks of hho generation compared to separated collection. You are literally saving lives here. You have taken the time to explain the risks and dangers of playing around with this technology
Are you sure you didn't misunderstand what a "floating power supply" means? :D
Well it's not connected to the ground is it?
It elevates the applications available for said power supply.
Well, it sure does result in an elevated voltage read-out.
@@muha0644 It looks referenced to ground with a potential of about 1.5 meters to me.
28:01 Don't touch your face with a glove that might be full of very Alkaline solution ^^ !
And please be carefull with the toxic metals like chromium and stuffs that end up in the electrolyte with stainless steel corrosion. That's a nasty stuff for aquatic life !
Thank you for the cool content as always.
I've watched quite a few different designs for these kind things over the years (TKOR, Tested, random channels on youtube, etc) and I think this is the most accessible one I've seen yet
And whether it's a good or a bad thing is up for debate.
Good thing vote here people need information like this to make the world a better place. If only major companies are to know the secrets of the universe then we are all doomed.
RIP grant ;~;
@@AmorDeae .02 the burning books debate is kinda played out.
you dont have to keep the information In a vault where only companies have access to it, it would be just nice if you could make sure ppl who learn it don't hurt themself like for example experimenting under supervision of ppl who already learned these mistakes
I was just trying to make one of these this morning! Perfect timing.
I tried using soup cans, but the downside is you have to sand the insides because they're coated with something. I wanted to make a single container split output generator.
Basically if the soup can is positive, and a smaller can (with an outside coating, only the inside would be metal) is submerged in it, the H2 gas will be generated only inside the smaller can and you can place a tube on it's bottom, which would be the top in this design. The cans can be internally separated by paper or a sock like you showed just in case.
The benefit here is that it _can_ (no pun intended) function like both a single and split output. For single output just don't connect a tube and the gases will be mixed, you _can_ put the whole thing in a 2L bottle (I'm sure you could think of a better design), and if you want only one gas output then connect a tube to the smaller can.
The surface area is small, but if you use large cans it won't be an big issue. Here is a diagram in case i didn't explain it well:
__________
| ________ primary gas output
| |
| _ _ | |_ _ |
| | H2 | |
| | | | secondary gas output is discarded, but could be collected
| |
| |
|__________|
both gases are mixed if there is no tube on the small can
___________
| __________ combined gas output
| |
_ _ | | _ _
/ \
/| _ _ | |_ _ |\
| | H2 | |
| | | |
| |
| |
|__________|
I think you’ll get excessive corrosion on the can(s) because they aren’t stainless steel…
@@Shiftypop that was the point. It's cheap to replace the cans. If you love canned soup, you will end up with a lot of them.
steel is a better conductor than stainless use concentrations above 20% KOH, plate the cans with nickle use distilled water
I can't believe you drew these diagrams in UA-cam! Unbelievable, what a talent!
Intelligence delivered in such a down to earth manner. You have a humble desire for learning and an amazing skill to explain your process in a way everyone can understand. I find your quest for knowledge inspirational and relatable.
I remember commenting the wire wisk/ steel wool/ scrubber idea, and said make HHO generators from household components. Im amazed you actually read and listened
The only thing I would have changed is to have the electrodes connected to the "device" before connecting/disconnecting them to the PSU, that way any spark that is generated is always far away from the "device". Great project as always!
I believe the proper term according to the 'Manhattan Project' is 'gadget', as opposed to 'device'. Just thinking about hydrogen 'things'.
I thought the same. My take is have tabs with holes where the connections are and wires with lugs bolted right to the tabs. That way the wires/alligator clips are never accidentally knocked off while it is powered, which could cause a spark. Have a connector on the other end of your power cable.
Oh Come on now, where is your sense of adventure? A good loud bang is always fun to experience as long as you don't get injured too bad lol...
@@beckwerks sure thing, and besides the ear piercing bang, one needs to be careful they dont get sodium hydroxide blown over them.
@@beckwerks If it goes boom, just put a thumb in the wound.
We Germans have a nice name for HHO gas. Its "Knallgas" which literally translated is bang gas
H²O is water, h²O Gas is steam 🤷♂️ what you mean may be hydrogen
@@JonasLingott No I do not mean H₂O gas aka steam. I meant HHO gas also known as Oxyhydrogen, Bronwn's gas or Knallgas, a mixture of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.
@@HiltownJoe It's called the same in swedish. Knallgas.
@@JonasLingott the electricity breaks the atomic bonds between the hydrogen and the oxygen - effectively you get (2)H2+O2 (HHO gas) instead of 2(H2O).
Um... so basically, IF you heat water you DO get steam, which IS still H2O. If you pass electricity through, you no longer have steam - you have gas that is 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen.
... Am I making any sense? Sorry if this doesn't clarify anything for you.
In Spanish is called… Nal gas … gas also comes out of them.
Your clear explanations, engaging demonstrations, and genuine enthusiasm were a joy to watch. I especially loved different ways you explained to improve amount of gas
You've sparked my curiosity about this technology and its potential, and I know countless others are learning thanks to your efforts. Keep up the incredible work - the world needs more science communicators like you! :)
Check out Craig Westbrook Hydrogen on demand
I support legal Cannabis
And Stan Meyers
The Dod bought his dune buggy !
The 2nd build always upgrades the systems❤
I use plain WATER NO ADDITVES
All the ROOKIES 😅😢😂😊❤
I've watched multiple electrolysis of water videos, and this one has got to be my favorite. Well explained, and demonstrated. Your attention to safety precautions/concerns was also top notch.
Eager to see more demonstrations!
Yes it really is. I'm researching for a science fair project and this has got to be the best video on this I've seen yet.
You are either a LIAR or you are not qualified to make instructional videos!! Water doesnt get split into hydrogen or oxygen gas. Its the electrodes that gas off and generate hydrogen and oxygen. This has been tested and isolated. Introducing more metals to the process only RUINS your video. Potassium HYDROXIDE?? I wonder what that would breakdown to be.LOL! List to your explanation below....
"Several people have commented with the valid concern that using low quality stainless steel electrodes will contaminate the electrolyte solution with poisonous hexavalent chromium which is not safe to handle or dispose of. I have spent some time this afternoon coming up with a solution to this problem. When using a strongly alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH as your electrolyte the fix is easy: drop a small 1x1 inch piece of aluminum foil into the electrolyte and let it dissolve. Do not add more than a small piece of foil at a time or the reaction may be violent. The dissolving foil will cause any dangerous chromium to convert into a non toxic variation, Cr(iii), evidenced by a green precipitate. One or two pieces of foil dissolved in this way and allowed to react for a few hours should be enough to ensure all chromium has been rendered non toxic."
What a joke. Watch Peter & Pete show you how it is NOT the water splitting to gas.
😊😊o8iiioiii8k0pk99l
Nice, I'd like to add something about the Voltage vs. Efficiency relationship(which you hinted on several times, but didn't explain in detail, so many people probably didn't notice it) - any time you're going above the minimum practical voltage for electrolysis (~2.5v = ~80%), the maximum possible efficiency drops linearly (because the current performs the electrolysis and not the watts), so at 5v it's impossible to have more than a 40% efficienty and at 12v - around 15%. Or in other words, if you are supplying 12v to a single cell, by creating 5 cells with closer electrode spacing and connecting them in series, you'll produce 5 times more gas for the same input power.
That s exactly What I was going to point, this can be solved by adding 4 more socks and 5 stainless steel mesh and connecting the inner an the outer leaving floating the middle ones, at 12 volts the potential will distribute at around the 2.5 volts needed.
@@lacuentadevideos I've done some experimenting in the past and determined that you can't create neutral middle plates that way unfortunately, there has to be none or very little water connectivity between non nearby plates. If you just arrange plates one next to another and submerge them, 90% of the bubbles form just on the outer two, same with the concentric sock setup you're suggesting :( the reason obviously being that the lower resistance of the plate is not that much lower than the path around it through the electrolyte, as the plates are very thin. so its like two resistors with close values in parallel and you expecting all the current to flow through just one. A concentric pipe(not porous unlike the kitchen scrubbers) setup will work, but will be practical only for hho gas, its not easy to separate.
Interesting, I always assumed they had different needs depending on the different sizes or plates etc. Is it really always 2.5v for max output?
@@ratgreen yes. Thats the energy needed to separate Hydrogen and Oxygen in the water molecule. All the excess Voltage generates heat, thats why his cells heat so much.
Fascinating! I’d like to see that demonstrated. I was curious to know how industrial scale electrolysis for hydrogen & oxygen was done for things like Project Suntan & NASA.
Your videos are already more engaging than others due to your personality; what seems like genuine interest. Like I don't want to turn the video off, halfway through.
For the single output device: you could wrap the whisk in kite fabric and drill a second hole at the lid of the container for the oxygen to escape.
The kite fabric allows the electrolysis to happen but acts as a membrane for the hydrogen and oxygen bubbles.
Awsome video, Thanks!
I did an experiment like this twenty years ago using two 2-Liter bottles immersed in the same pan of water. But, what you did here is truly next level. Nice work!
I've never been even remotely close to a chemistry/physics experiment neither to the concepts nor the language it's self but I was able to follow up the whole process. This is how a well understood of a process can explain to a non initiated. well done sir! This is a lesson for every expert that buzzing his audience with crypt lingo... and that goes for me too... I guess!!!
I always love his home brew style of projects. I'm a big DIY fan myself, but I'm not the kind of person who can go out and buy expensive printers or machine shop tools. UA-cam is full of fantastic engineering channels, but it's discouraging to know the coolest projects are far beyond your reach if you don't have a university grant. NightHawkInLight does the most with the absolute least. He inspires me as much as the other guys, but in an even better way. I get the same feeling I felt as a teen scrapping the dump for parts. It reminds me anything is possible if I keep inspired and resourceful.
Something I'd like to point out... For most... The Hydrogen output is the focus for generating power... But a novelty I see in your setup is how easy and simple it is to make Oxygen for medical needs, like say after a hurricane ~ when everything is running on battery power! Awesome information!
Wow. Never heard a bong called a flashback arrestor lol.
Basically the same thing as a percolator
Had the same thought.
You had to meet him half way to understand😂😂😂
Holy shit you're right.
The hydrogen bong! We defeated the Japanese with that device! Lol
That flash back arrester reminds me of something else from high school days ;)
Really looking forward to the torch build, that's where my mind went before clicking the video!
What's that?
Just don't cough into the tube!
Apparently, I spent half my senior year of machine-shop building flash back arresters. Had no idea so many kids were into electrolysis.
They always lose their gas coz they leave the lid off and stick the outlet on the side
@@Dman6779 Yes, they lose their gas.
In the most wonderful way.
I really enjoyed your demo. I was in high school science class and I remember asking my teacher "why don't we use hydrogen and oxygen to power a no pollution car?". His answer to me was "well, invent one". I just looked at my first "fuel cell" car today. I had to look up how they created electricity with hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell, and am so excited that this technology is actually happening. I wish I could have been part of the team that worked on this technology. Thanks so much and keep up the good work!
How did the car turn out?
:D I have been inspired to create a generator
I always love seeing videos like this! Sure there are things you can do better, but this is a really good way to get people into science. It gives them something tangible to hold afterword and say "I made this, and it's cool."
& The world need the free energy, now more than ever.. Obviously the current/conventional system isn't very bright/smart/clever.. Most people just swallow their MANY lies, by now we are so used to being lied to, some people even start to believe their lies, cos it constantly happens...Repetition repetition n more repetition, goes strait to the subcon, & so people are far from aware of our(built in abilities)🥰
I've just started to get interested Hydrogen/Oxygen Generator, so very pleased with your demonstrations. I'm a retired electronic engineer, so this is a bit off the beaten track for me. I shall now start following you and learn more about this subject.
Thank you for all what you did: your language, the way you speak, makes it easy for my children to understand every piece of information you had mentioned. Thank you a lot
Incoorporating an aluminum foil burst disk on the sealed container would be a good back up for flasback. Great video love the longer ones.
Good call, thank you; reminding me that pressure cookers have a small rubber seal for this purpose.
Please explain what it does
@@ytrew9717 makes an intentional weak point, so if the pressure increases dramaticaly it fractures the foil or blows out the plug, rather than the whole container exploding.
@@FirstLast-bi8xi Thanks, you were both brief and entirely correct / helpful. Unusual, on t'Internet :-)
@@FirstLast-bi8xi Burst disks are good for overpressure, but the (near) explosive expansion wave of HHO going off is probably too fast for it.
I ran over my cellphone lost all my stuff. After 5 mo. I found you. I like the way you present the experiments .its the same aproach I have. And a very thourgh segments.
I'm 4 and 1/2 minutes through and so far this is one of the most descriptive and useful hydrogen videos I've seen in 10 years
My mind is swirling with all the things I can do with these setups- both split gas and combined. Thanks for sparking new ideas, especially as I've been feeling a little uninspired as of late.
Mine also. Incredible:?)
Wonderful video, brought back fond memories from 45 years ago of making hydrogen in my bedroom using the transformer from my train set. BTW, It struck me while you were talking about the video’s sponsor that your Sponsor segments are always excellent. Not rushed, flow naturally from the content, nice demonstrations, and tie back into the overall theme of the channel. They are well represented when they support you!
Man, I am glad other people are playing with this. Great video, I built one of these out of PVC about 10 years ago. I connected them at the bottom to do a separate assembly, thinking that would be more powerful. Finding it hard to believe the h2 wasn't more powerful than the other, got a load of ideas to test now. The first one will be the sock idea. Thanks
I would suggest making sure to use a pressure rated bottle for the flashback arrester. I learnt the hard way that a water bottle turns into shrapnel pretty quickly...
two things i think might be ok with the setup... first, the output of the device is open air, which means the pressure does have an escape route. Second PET bottles tend to have quite a bit of pressure capacity and are fairly light to boot. That looked like a water bottle which is thinner than a carbonated beverage bottle. In this case, again in my unprofessional opinion, I think that would allow the bottle to deform giving the pressure time to escape via the output tube, and being thinner would rupture at lower pressures than a pressure rated device. I think an ideal setup would be something like a plastic food container that has a lid lose enough to pop off in case of explosion. a grease of some sort could be applied to the seal to help mitigate the potential leaking of the smaller hydrogen molecules.
It would not be as bad as learning the bad way that stainless steel on the anode side produces highly toxic Hexavalent Chromium, both in the water, and in the hydrogen released.
This guy is going to kill himself, or worse, cause a young person to be killed, if he continues on like this. He is completely uneducated and unskilled for this type of work.
I love multi-iterative progressive designs being shown.
I like your easy to understand experiments. The demonstration with the mixed gases popping was done well also. It shows the volatility of oxygen and hydrogen without
causing a dangerous explosion. I did an experiment some years back. I wanted to ignite gasses from carbide and water by placing the vapor tube into a pail of water. Then I was going to lite the gas bubbles coming to the top of the water. Well I lit the bubbles, the fire traveled down under 2 inches of water and into the pipe, then into the glass generator. Yes it exploded. I had
safety glasses on and was not harmed. Time to sweep up glass test tube pieces.
You are either a LIAR or you are not qualified to make instructional videos!! Water doesnt get split into hydrogen or oxygen gas. Its the electrodes that gas off and generate hydrogen and oxygen. This has been tested and isolated. Introducing more metals to the process only RUINS your video. Potassium HYDROXIDE?? I wonder what that would breakdown to be.LOL! List to your explanation below....
"Several people have commented with the valid concern that using low quality stainless steel electrodes will contaminate the electrolyte solution with poisonous hexavalent chromium which is not safe to handle or dispose of. I have spent some time this afternoon coming up with a solution to this problem. When using a strongly alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH as your electrolyte the fix is easy: drop a small 1x1 inch piece of aluminum foil into the electrolyte and let it dissolve. Do not add more than a small piece of foil at a time or the reaction may be violent. The dissolving foil will cause any dangerous chromium to convert into a non toxic variation, Cr(iii), evidenced by a green precipitate. One or two pieces of foil dissolved in this way and allowed to react for a few hours should be enough to ensure all chromium has been rendered non toxic."
What a joke.
Hope you're 👍 thanks
Have always loved watching your content, I've even used some of your ideas to build with a group of kids that I mentor. Really fun to learn new and amazing things. What made me sit up in my chair in this video was coming to the realization that you were wearing a Ten Minute Bible Hour hat! Love to see content creators shouting each other out, even if it's in subtle ways like this. Thanks for all the work you put into bringing us great content!
Igfûghuuu fff t gg jh hu8ii8 po nkon o pô hi n ho ó reet go
Would like to see useful applications for use of hydro gas besides tour help. Also comparison of cost of electricity to gain burning gas verses electric heating per set of BYU
PER BTU NOT BTY
The progression was simply beautiful to see and it was a joy to watch this. I think I'll be making the second last one sometime soon, thank you for the inspiration!
Great video, viewed the whole 30 minutes in one go. Very interesting. Love the design iterations and creativity flow.
Would absolutely love to see the HHO torch come to fruition. I’ve been interested in building one for a while now but struggling to find a start. BIG LOVE on the viddy! Great as always!
You're thorough in presentation and deserve an award from me.
You are a good teacher because you explain very clearly what you do and next to that you tel all in an entertaining way.
I would really like to see exactly how that steel cannister fails if a flashback occurs without the bubbler (assuming you can safely and willingly do this, of course). It would make for some great footage *and* we'd get to see exactly what the danger is if we were to try this ourselves.
As always, I love your videos. You've taught me a lot and I can't wait to see what you'll teach me next!
I can tel you from experience, the flashback travels up the tube instantly, and if your tube less than a centimeter in diameter, it’ll decide to blow the lid off your container instead of just exhausting. I was using a plastic container with less than a liter of air space. I imagine a good metal container with little breathing room could handle a flashback, but it can certainly tear through plastics. And it is what’s used for torches that need to melt through any metal
What is a scouring pad usually for? This is the first I’ve heard of them
@@naturegirl1999 Getting grunge off the oven hob, getting baked-on spaghetti, rice, etc., from the inside of stainless-steel saucepans, etc.
Don't use on non-stick, and don't use on [other] plastics.
Also good for cleaning soldering iron bits, if you're of an engineering frame of mind; and I've used them (with spackle) to block up mouse-holes; the mice can't eat through the SS, easily :-)
It may not fail at all
@@Rose-ec6he We want *something* to fail, and that failure should do the least damage.
Per previous comments, the rubber seal on a pressure cooker, or a foil blowout washer, are good choices; they depressurize, without blowing liquid around.
Otherwise, if there's an explosion in a sealed system that's full of KOH or NaOH, the result probably won't be pretty.
You can just put the electrolytic container in bigger container with water for cooling.
Add a cheap fountain pump for water circulation too.
@@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 I built one of those flat pack hho generators, i doubt the fish pump is needed, you'd be amazed how fast the water goes though.
Or he could use Borosilicate glass for everything instead.
@@honklerton732 the issue with an all glass container is if it should flash back, that's a lot of shrapnel.
@marthale7 Lower temp. Heat will cause it to use more power. That's why they make hho gen's dry cells as the have a separate container for the solution to be able to cool down.
OXY HYDROGEN TORCH! I would love to see a very big, safe as possible, "refillable" cutting torch ,made on the cheap, that only needs water/electrolyte/power to run
I'd really like to see the system used to compress the gas. In my mind I would have a series of pumps separated by high tensile strength tubbing running through water.
Another vote for this
They use these types of torches in jewelers repair shops. They sell them on the internet. They're about 200usd and are very useful because they're considered to be a "cold flame" but actually reach a few thousand °degrees.
@@fred_e Just use a (cheap) tire pump in your gas collecting container to compress it into your final cylinder.
@@nicks2437 but can it make it a liquid?
Like your honesty. Great evolution of HHO ideas. You’ve earned my respect. I am a knight, an engineer and a soldier. Cheers.
Wow, 30 minutes already.... Time flies when your having fun.
Congratulations NightHawkInLight on this very well structured and educational video. I love the fact that you start with your first prototypes and build from there. I have built many an electrolyzer and have to compliment you on your practical designs especially with the combined gas electrolyzer. The sock design is ingenious - I would have thought that frayed wires from the scourer pads might protrude through the sock and cause electrical shorts. Very practical and simple design! Just one remark on you mentioning that the electricity passes through the liquid (6:45 and 7:30). It is correct to say that charged ions form at the electrodes and these complete the electrical conduction path in the liquid when they migrate between electrodes. "Electricity" is the flow of electrons which is not true for the electrolyte. I used to say to my students that "electrons cannot swim". Thanks for you great work here!
Science class was one of my favorites in school, but they weren't teaching anything on electrolysis.
That's why I love everything you do and especially because you're going right down the middle of that electrolysis hgwy!
Great stuff and it just goes to show that you really can teach an old dog like myself new tricks! Thank you, 👍
I promise, not making this up, in a Communist country 30 years ago we had to build these in 4th grade... what gives?
@@dunuth To indoctrinate you....You are either a LIAR or you are not qualified to make instructional videos!! Water doesnt get split into hydrogen or oxygen gas. Its the electrodes that gas off and generate hydrogen and oxygen. This has been tested and isolated. Introducing more metals to the process only RUINS your video. Potassium HYDROXIDE?? I wonder what that would breakdown to be.LOL! List to your explanation below....
"Several people have commented with the valid concern that using low quality stainless steel electrodes will contaminate the electrolyte solution with poisonous hexavalent chromium which is not safe to handle or dispose of. I have spent some time this afternoon coming up with a solution to this problem. When using a strongly alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH as your electrolyte the fix is easy: drop a small 1x1 inch piece of aluminum foil into the electrolyte and let it dissolve. Do not add more than a small piece of foil at a time or the reaction may be violent. The dissolving foil will cause any dangerous chromium to convert into a non toxic variation, Cr(iii), evidenced by a green precipitate. One or two pieces of foil dissolved in this way and allowed to react for a few hours should be enough to ensure all chromium has been rendered non toxic."
What a joke.
@@dunuthwow
Nice explanation! I just produced my own version of a combined sock version and your single output electrolysis item. Of course I wasn't yet educated with the seriousness of the danger of a single collection of the gasses. your slow mo explosion was very useful to see what actually happened to me. I was hoping to ignite the gas as a flame, but it went right back to the suppressor and blew the plastic lid off it like a few m80s bound together. I like your dual collection example, and I'm going to look for your oxy-hydrogen torch video. Thank you again. I'm dumb enough to try this without completely understanding the explosive danger. But now I know and I am fortunate that my B omb didn't hurt me or someone else. Thank you again for the detail. (I had 3 marine 12 v batteries in series to provide the electricity, two steel all threads about 7" each, into a plastic container with one 3/4" gas tube exiting to the suppressor, with the final 1/2" tube from the suppressor to what I was hoping to be my gas manifold. The manifold only served as the ignition spot (used a lighter) for the bullet of gas that traveled back up the 1/2" tube to the top of the suppressor where there was enough gas for a very large plastic lid explosion. The lid fragmented over a large area. My explosion was not slo-mo.)
Let's keep in mind that this is the same guy who just about three years ago was only uploading videos on how to make Airsoft guns in your garage
The idea still slaps...
the DIYs channel filled my teenage years
@@NKG416 same
Science was the original gateway drug
hes doing none sense videos for adsense purposes only
As an 8 year old scientist while living in Geneva, Switzerland, I couldn't wait to get the portable humidifier to start "humidifying". In the 1960's, the electrodes were exposed, and about 2" apart. and the top was removable to fill it with water. The voltage in Switzerland, is 220V.. The volume of the DeVilbis glass humidifier was about 2 liters. I plugged it in & I experimented by adding salt to it. I remember adding more and more salt an I saw what now I could describe a corona effect around the electrodes, then adding even more salt, the coronas joined and an arc formed. I boiled 2 liters old water in 10 minutes! When I took the electrodes out, they were just stumps! That started my "mad scientist" career! When I came to the U.S. while in HS I learned Electronics, got an Extra Class Amateur Radio license, built my very own 2KW PEP push-pull linear amplifier,, with 2 Eimac 3--500z's, built directional antennas, experimented with helicoidal phased arrays, and achieved "Moon-bounce" in UHF. My undergrad was biology, and all the electronics I learned was by reading and trial and error.! Several " unexplained"all neighborhood blackouts ... Had loads of fun when I found out my elderly neighbors were watching me work outside with 2KW on the 10 20 meter band, adjusting very directional Yagi antennas. When I was sure they were watching me, I remotely keyed the Collins S line transmitter with the amp tuned to 1000W. CW, and took fluorescent tubes on my hands and got them to light up. I am sure at least one of them ways was convinced I was some kind or warlock / devil worshiper. I worked hard part time and weekends as a TV repairman and an electrician to be able to pay for my experiments. . Ultimately, I went to Medical school and am now a physician! I miss those crazy times, now in my late 60's!
Need to be honest here, my favorite part was the flash arrestor test. That was incredible on the high speed! Thanks for a great vid!
agreed
My friend and I made one with stainless steel plates and a water filter housing something like 17 or 18 years ago. The issue has always been Amp draw and do to that heat. The remedy is using a frequency generator to pulse the power and reduce Amp draw while still producing the same or great amount of HHO.
The whisk man... blowed up my mind.
Thanks for the GREAT demo!! It reminds me of when I was a kid in the 50's doing electrolysis when I didn't know much about what I was doing. I used 120 vac (since that was what was available) and thereby combined the hydrogen and Oxygen. I wish I remembered more about what the results were, but I do remember making explosions. I have a slight memory of using salt as the electrolyte.
Ah thats the ticket i wanted salt
I have a story with combined hho cell. When I was a kid I heard somewhere that if you pass electricity through water with a little bit of salt it's gonna produce hydrogen and oxygen and I thought hmmm.... Interesting, let's try it. So I got a mason jar hammered some nails into it and hooked it up to a phone charger and heared some sizzling and smelled chlorine, I tried to light it but there wasn't enough gas so I left it running for about 10 minutes and tried to light it. HUGE BANG nails shot up and some were actually stuck in the ceiling lid looked like a bowl, the disgusting brown-green water splashed everywhere including the ceiling and the jar itself miraculously survived. Moments after my mom ran into the room asking what the hell happened. My ears were ringing for 2 days. I was a genius
Fantastic!!!!!!!
lmao I remember when I was 14 I did something similar with a pack of plastic water bottles, fish tank bubbler tube, and stripped phone wire. I thought I could make a torch if I put a one way valve on the thing... worked for a while until it backfired into the 24 bottles producing HHO. learned really quick one way valves dont prevent this ;P
@@Protossplayer1 some people have to learn the hard way
Yup, I tried making one too with some galvanized plates. Never use galvanized metal lol, that sludge is disgusting.
I just used a 9v battery with alligator clip wires in a film canister in the sink. Much smaller scale, but when I introduced a lighter, it still popped pretty loudly.
Hi! Your video is awesome and the ideas of electrolysis you introduced are briliant just because they are easy, cheap and very effective. The level of your efficiency/cost and work ratio is unavailable for other projects! Your methods are the best!
Thank you for this video!
The best and most useful UA-cam channel 100%. Awesome job Nighthawk. You're a great teacher, I hope you continue for a long time.
"Its not a bong, its a flashback arrestor officer"
Like from your college days, is it? Well here's a flashback arresting!
@@dwaynezilla 10/10!
Yea, hook a flashback arrestor to your bong, so that acid laced weed won’t come back on ya, unexpectedly, in the next few weeks to years after. 🤪
Those two balloon thingies in that jar at 0:20 look a lot like two giant nut sacks.... interesting experiment. lol
it prevents vapor lock like my ol ladys mouth.
Fantastic project. I've seen others that are complicated with plates and bolts etc. I really liked the contained dual output. In a pinch, the sock method would suffice. Great stuff.
Sent here by Integza and now I have no idea how I haven't found your channel before. Lots of cool looking stuff here!
Man I have been watching you for years now, you are simply put! “ The Man” love most of your videos ( I’m sure I would love them all if my interest was as broad as yours) keep it up brother GREAT stuff!!
I really like the whisk and scouring pad electrode idea, that is great. I have been playing with HHO designs here and there for a bit. Never have come up with anything I’m too comfortable running yet, or anything that runs well for very long. Still working the bugs out. My main objective is to make a jewelry torch out of it. I know you can buy the units online but I’d rather learn something by making one. That’s just the geek I’ve always been. Great vid. Keep up the good work. Cant wait to see where this goes.
I'll probably buy a HHO cell from Ebay, and a torch from AliExpress.
DIY is fine, but I'd prefer kit that someone else had QA'd, for torch work. Tools should "just work".
Despite I have lots of electrochemistry and blowtorch years, "Buy don't build" means I can play in a week or two, rather than (more-expensive) months :-)
@@theskett : True. But my situation is a bit different. While I can surely find uses for an HHO torch. I’m not in need of such torch. I’m disabled and run off in weird directions, building odd things to fill my time.
When I was a kid I did this with a canning jar, eyebolts and a car battery charger. I added soap to the electrolyte and was popping the bubbles with a red hot nail and enjoying the little pops of brown's gas.. This suddenly back burned into the can and exploded the lid off my canning jar. Most of the water was blown everywhere, the lid disappeared and the canning jar did not move. I was super lucky that the jar did not turn into a grenade and kill me.. Heh.. the things you do as a kid 😬
As (also) a kid, I lit a tiny fire and, from a yard above, poured gunpowder outta half-full jelly jar, to watch the trail of sparks as the fire climbed up the powder trail.
Eventually the sparks climbed all the way to the jelly-jar; there was a hella "whoosh", the jar cracked and dropped out of my hand, and I received only minor on-the-hand burns (ok in a week... :-)
Good times, I still have two hands :-)
As a kid, I ate my boogers.
Actually did some hydrogen experiments in my room long a go and almost lunched my electroliser through the roof :D. Also i burned my fingers frequently. One time i did it with a cotton ball soaked with lighter fluid. Had a little to much fluid on there. Went to put them out covered my hand in lighter fluid. Didn't notice. Relit the balls and in turn my whole hand. Fun times. Minor burns great story
@@TheNightwalker247 Good stuff. I mostly set myself on fire with methylated spirit or sulfur (both burn with a very pale blue flame, barely visible, y'know).
We coulda been friends, but we'da have to maintain better-than-social-distancing (20ft?) so we didn't set fire to each other :-)
@@theskett i turned to less flammable obsession like mountainbiking with a gravelbike 😂 fire pois look fun tho
And yes 20feet sound's like a good safety margin
Thanks for your video, Night Hawk!
To make tip-overs less likely, you might glue the bottom of your containers to a large wood base.
That setup would be more bulky, but it should stay where you put it.
That, and use short squat containers, that are wider than they are tall
This is a really good video and anyone who is into alternative and cheap fuels which is probably everyone will like this video too.
Good job at simplifying HHO fuel technology, HHO fuel can run any engine that has a spark plug and it can be used for heating, cooking, cutting, etc
Do you have any videos of this being done? That sounds super dangerous too
@@solomonheppner UA-cam
@@louderbackbarry could you link the ones you're talking about?
@@solomonheppner just do a search on UA-cam, one thing you can do to test it is bowl full of water put a battery charger on it for a few seconds then take a lighter to it the water is flammable when electricity is going through it and it’s just as powerful as gasoline
@@louderbackbarry "just as powerful as gasoline" ....former hazmat tech bud.....i can absolutely say that they aren't comparable in literally explosive potential. HHO has a vastly higher expansion rate and destructive potential even if both are in gaseous state.
If you really dont know of any, fine, i can spend a few more minutes on youtube.
This was really cool to see. Thank you for making it look so doable for someone like me! Now to explore uses of hydrogen and oxygen as a fuel for an off grid generator!
But, please, stop using stainless steel on the anode side. It produces toxic Hexavalent Chromium.
@@Gundesalf I am not a chemist by any means, but I don't think there's enough chromium to do that in any significant quantity in the size electrode he was using. Might be waaaay off though.
Pulsed DC current at a frequency similar to the wool, whisk or container will apparently shake the bubbles loose and increase production.
dam that's some big brain shit right there
.@@dontquestionjustbelieve5757 pmsl. Inspired anarchist thinking thank you! Big brained is just no longer cool. Scientism, as a religion is now out, lol.🤣🤣🤣
@@dontquestionjustbelieve5757 just a bit of knowledge gained from looking into over-unity devices.
The water powered car was supposed to do something like that.
I don't see how that increases producton, but I can see how that could lead to a more steady stream without small oscillations in production
@@fred_e In reality, it doesn't.
There are a lot of wild claims out there about the resonance of water, and the resonance of the electrodes and certain frequencies being better or worse at dissociating the water...
I spent a few years looking at all of this, and a fair bit of money getting a 2400x1200mm sheet of 1mm 308L stainless laser cut into plates to build a cell. That's about as far as I got before it went on the back burner.
The biggest efficiency increase this dude could make, is to stick to the 2.3v(?) "ideal" voltage for the Potassium Hydroxide electrolyte. Any higher than that and most of the power goes to heating the electrolyte and destroying the electrodes.
Hi, in order to scale up your setup you might want to apply layered socks and mesh over each other with alternate polarities. Better yet, stack two long strips of 'sock' and SS material then roll into a cylindrical shape, similar to the way capacitors are made. Just an observation, thank you.
Nighthawk, you bring some of the most astounding, functional science to the masses. Building HO generators out of grocery store materials, or allowing people to experiment with "Starlite" is way, way more useful than a LCD panel using 10% less energy!
Just beware that using stainless steel on the anode side will fill the water and the hydrogen gas with a lot of highly toxic Hexavalent Chromium.
That was great fun and brought back so many memories of me doing this as a quite young boy *many* decades ago (didn't know about catalysts and my electrodes were just wires).
I would agree that the separated design is far more useful.
Showing me how the flashback arrester works was really helpful, thanks for taking that risk!
Love your videos. Everytime I start to source information for a new project or interest, I, invariably, come across one of your videos and become completely enthralled in the topic, regardless of my original intention. So I guess thank you for sparking interest and inspiring me and mine to explore additional scientific pursuits while leaving me dumfounded at what my original task was.
I've never commented on a youtube video before but this video is tremendously competent. Well filmed, well presented by someone who knows what they are talking about and the detailed description pretty much forestalls any possible questions. A fascinating subject and thank God, no bloody awful music.. Good man, thanks so much.
Great explanations. Thanks for showing the mutiple versions you made instead of only showing the best one its helpful to know the problems that occurred and what needs to be changed. Have great fun in your lab! Definatly enjoyed watching, thanks.
I voted and subscribed for more after viewing this video as one of the best done, comprehensive practical science documentary rounded by your interesting debates, too! Clever designs, well explained from this genius may easily gets you addicted to a lot of new hobbies...Congratulations and many thanks to you all for sharing your great knowledge about!
A roll of stainless steel window screen using two pieces (the outer one slightly longer, but same width) rolled up and sandwiched between a cotton insulator (towel) works amazingly well. Lots of surface area! You can make super small devices that produce a ton of gas!
Oh wow, this was absolutely great! I love how straight to the point your videos are, and how very clear the explanations are. Keep up the Great work!
love the whisk idea.
My physics teatcher in high school filled a big barrel with HHO, placed it out on the ice, lit a match and the rest is history.
He survived but it was he who hade to go to the principal's office. 😂
please tell me the rest
Sounds like my kind of teacher. A fun one.
@@boomiTech nothing more to say I'm sorry to say.
Cant remember how he lit it but it was that kinda barrel with a detatcheble lid so it flew to the next county and the ice cracked. But every student stood in the school building and cheered on.
Mind you it was a cold winter so it was about 1 meter (3 feet) of ice and it was about 40 yrs ago.
_I'm so fucking old_
@@Brandywine6969 I hope you becomes a teacher, the one we all love. Wreckless and fun but hard as nails when its needed.
_you borne in 1969 or are you just a master of it?_
@@boomiTech It's history, read it in a book!
Thanks!
I've never built a HHO generator before, but I remember launching rockets with it when I was a little kid!
I don't know if they sell them anymore, but back in the early 2000s, Estes used to sell "hydrogen powered rocket kits". It was basically a stomp rocket with a single-output "hydrogen reactor" built into the bottom of the stand. You would load it with water and citric acid, arm it, and launch it with a remote control. I doubt it produced nearly as much HHO gas as your designs, but man that thing launched FAR!!
Yes, I have one i found at a 2nd hand store. Not sure if you can buy them new anymore.
When trying to drill a hole that is the exact size for a tube (a rod can also work if it is small like a coat hanger), you can chuck the tube directly into the drill and use it as the bit.
I had a lot of fun doing these experiments about 12 years ago. I ended on some conclusions. Straight DC is okay, but when you get to playing around with pulsed DC, you can really go crazy. I ramped my voltage up to about 5KV and was able to adjust my frequency to about 1-2 kHz and able to adjust the duty cycle as I saw fit. Last set of toying with it was to use pure water with no electrolyte, and having a resistance monitoring system to automatically adjust the duty cycle based on water quality. And that's when I reached the end of my skill set. I'll hit it back up when I learn to code.
5 kv!! That's very high voltage. Only 4-5 volts passed 10A current in this video. What did your setup draw?
If he was really using pulse DC he's allowing the voltage to do the work instead of the amps raw bulldozing power I've done many post DC setups myself with compound plate setups and found that you can do as much with 100 volts and 1 amp as you can with 5 volts 10 amps if we could ever find the true harmonic resonance of the particular sample of water we were using you could dematerialize it all at once hydrogen bomb status
@@shfahim7938 Well, being pulsed power means that the average current draw may not be overly high. It would still be interesting to know though. What is the advantage of pulsed power? Does it simplify power delivery or increase efficiency? The absence of electrolyte is certainly a nice benefit.
@@taylormayhew369 from somewhere on the internet:
‘The wavelength of the far infrared rays range from 4 microns to 1000 microns. The recent studies in biotechnology field revealed that the far-infrared rays played an important role for formation and growth of all living organisms. For this reason, these specific far-infrared rays are called "biogenetic rays". Water and proteins are the integral parts of all living organisms on Earth. Water molecules are always oscillating. If water molecules are exposed to oscillating action of 8-10 micron wavelength (same as the wavelength of water molecular oscillation), the "resonance" occurs between the two oscillations.
The resonance causes ionization of water into hydrogen ion and hydroxide ion at extremely high speed (10/12 sec). This ionization is called "water activation." ‘
It’s either this or above 22 GHz
@@ness-ee sweet that's great info
A PVC pipe full of D cells, an old aquarium, some of mom's butterknives and a trash bag and some wire. Thats what we used. Mom was delighted that we were having fun with science, getting excited about making little bubbles... until we started lighting off the bag full of hydrogen at sunset every night XD
If you make one of these, make sure the power supply is OFF when you connect or disconnect the clamps to the electrodes. If the supply is on, it will case a bit of arcing. if you have been leaking HHO, then the arc will instantly ignite the HHO and you will have a very bad day (potentially your last one)
So electrolysis is something that I've poked at a bit in my chemistry filled days.
People push for basic hydroxide salts in alot of the scientific literature is real, but they're not ideal, as noted in the video, but it goes beyond the general safety issue.
Hydroxides (potassium or sodium hydroxide) both digest a range of materials; Glass, most metals, ceramics, etc... The plastic degradation seen in the video is actually slow.
First, rather than a single electrolyte, you should use a buffered solution. This is a mixture of salts that, when dissolved, easily form a pH gradient in the system, and buffer the system overall towards a certain pH.
Buffered pH will help ion formation and movement, but it might bias the gas formation at one electrode (cathode or anode, depending on mixture used).
An example of a buffered solution that would be easy is sodium carbonate, potassium hydroxide, and sodium bicarbonate. FYI, This solution actually bias towards oxygen production, and a pH around 10, depending on exact concentrations. It also off-gases carbon dioxide at times.
Second, The original video is a 1 electrolyte setup. So, with the 1 electrode version, you can use that to setup a 2 electrolyte system, with a oxygen electrode in a steel bottle connected by a strip of metal to a steel bottle with a hydrogen electrode. That stops it from being a single electrode HHO generator.
Dual electrolyte systems have some advantages because you can use 2 electrolytes that favor the gas at their respective electrode. So... say sodium silicate and potassium hydroxide on the oxygen side, and ammonium sulfate and magnesium sulfate on the hydrogen side.
Thirdly, and somewhat telling of my own bias here, hydroxides as electrolyte came into favor with HHO enthusiasts because hydroxides react with aluminium to produce hydrogen all on their own without electricity. The hydroxides react with elemental aluminium to form a large solvation complexes that nearly instantly vents the hydrogen to form aluminates. These zeolites made correct calculation of what was going on in the generators difficult, and many claims of free energy came out of it.
Finally, in case this wasn't clear, every electrolyte will have a "Bias" towards either the cathode or the anode, and, as a result, a bias towards one gas or another, depending on electrolyte. Regardless of electrolyte used, you can overcome any bias by simply throwing more electricity at the problem, but efficiency might be a thing you consider.
Your car battery is far worse.
I don't understand the aspect of "bias". Something doesn't gel.
When you split 2 H2O molecules, it has to produce 2 H2 and 1 O2, correct?
Do you mean more of the gas will form at either electrode? Unless the hydrogen or oxygen is simply disappearing it must mean that both hydrogen and oxygen are being produced on at least one electrode. That also doesn't make sense.
Or does your "bias" refer to energy efficiency? As in, one electrode might have a lower potential to produce the same amount of hydrogen/oxygen if it uses the correct electrolyte?
@@Bob_Lob_Law
Kinda. "Bias" is an intentional over simplification for my convenience. Standard electrochemical cells all have fairly in depth math that goes hand in hand with them. Explaining out the concept without getting into the calculus helps highlight practical things that might not come across otherwise. Adding extra bits like a electrochemical process that produces a product (hydrogen gas), adds a secondary layer to it.
First, as a type of electrochemical cell, Electrolysis cells are going to have one side that's more "Spontaneous", and different electrolytes can change which side that is. This could be viewed as "Efficient" but, it's more accurate to simply describe it as the side that occurs first.
Second, some electrolytes, especially while being driven by electrical differentials, can undergo secondary chemical reactions, and absorb oxygen or hydrogen from the surround environment.
Halides, pnictides, and sulfides can all absorb oxygen from solution. Halides, in particular, can be dangerous when they absorb oxygen. Hypochlorites are manufactured this way but so are perchlorates, with the main difference just being temperature and concentration of chlorides.
Sulfates and carbonates can both absorb hydrogen and hold on to it for extended periods of time, and both vent non-hydrogen gases.
Finally, because I don't think I specifically said this in my first comment, silicates and borates are much safer alternative to hydroxides, but borates can still absorb some amount of oxygen as the system gets hotter. I'm going to mess with antimonials one day, and I think that will be the better hydrogen electrode, but that's kind of a side story that would launch a youtube career.
Wow. I seriously learned more from your 5 paragraph comment than I did from this video, or for that matter from a month of chemistry class.
@@jasoncthomas you watch the videos for practical demonstrations and read the comments for in depth explanations.
Awesome video, Sir!
I've been making these since I was 12. I got the basics down when my Dad and Grandpa were trying to run a Toyota Corolla off of hydrogen during the oil embargo gas wars in the '70s. They accomplished their goal, and the car engine ran for about 30 seconds until it exploded! Thank God they and I were hiding some distance away behind some sandbags with a sheet of plywood in front of it. Even then it didn't seem like my ears were ever going to stop ringing.
Its funny because at the time, my Grandpa owned 13 acres across the highway from the former Texas Stadium in Irving, TX. and they did that in front of his garage which was in direct line of sight of the stadium
The explosion was so great it shattered the windows on the side of their house and cracked the sheetrock. And the heat from the blast turned the concrete into bright white crumbling ash.
It registered on seismographs somewhere, and in no time, every law enforcement agency was at the house.
They weren't jailed or even ticketed. On the contrary, they seemed to be somewhat impressed. They scolded them sternly, saying they could not continue any experiments without a mountain of permits, and it had to be in a rural area that was equipped to government specifications.
So, I have been thinking about that day and what they did wrong all of my life.
When I was 32, the proverbial lightbulb appeared over my head after using some ether to start a diesel engine. As I heard the ether mix with the diesel and listened to the engine race, I thought, "Bingo!"
Instead of running on pure hydrogen, I decided to mix it with gasoline in such a way that as far as the ECM on the car was concerned, I was running higher octane fuel, and then the magic happened. The computer made the necessary adjustments. As a result, the vehicle went from getting 350 miles per tank to almost 500 miles per tank.
If you are reading this, let me stop here and say, DO NOT TRY IT! I studied this for year's and even then, I took a major risk. It can be done safely, but you can easily turn yourself into a flash of hydrogen vapor if you are not extraordinarily careful!
Now back to my story. I also tried to use inexpensive materials and made electrolyzing cells using a 3-inch schedule 40 PVC sewer pipe with a cap glued on the bottom and a screw-in cap on the top. I tried many things for my anodes and cathodes but finally settled on stainless steel all thread. And like you, I used a multitude of different electrolytes until I decided on potassium hydroxide.
The all-thread worked brilliantly because I could attach wires securely to the outside poles, and when they corroded, I unscrewed the lid, spent a couple of minutes with a wire brush, and then put it back together. I built six of these and secured them in a milk crate. A piece of Plexiglas separated the oxygen and hydrogen and fed it into an oxygen/acetylene regulator. That allowed me to vent the oxygen safely out and regulate the hydrogen flow that was piped into the air intake of my 2001 Ford Taurus. There is a rural town near me with a 16-mile long loop that circles the city through rural farmland. I spent months with that car on cruise control, going around and around that loop on cruise control, videoing every step of the way. I could literally turn the regulator to increase the flow and feel the car rev up.
I worked in Irving at the time and lived in East Texas. So, I had an incentive considering fuel prices soared after 9/11.
That worked very well until a Dallas cop got beside me in the canyon in downtown Dallas. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw my electrolyzing hydrogen units in a milk crate secured to the passenger’s seat with the seatbelt.
He pulled me over, and God smiled down on me that day because he also had a curious interest in what I was doing. But, he warned me that just because I was lucky and got stopped by a cop who was a fellow science geek, that does not mean I will be as fortunate the next time.
He politely waited while I disassembled everything and put it in the trunk. Then, before he left, he grinned and said, considering that could be adapted into a hydrogen bomb, I'd put it back in my shop if I were you before you end up in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while you wait on the FBI bomb squad to disassemble everything to see exactly what it is.
I heeded his warning, and it is still on the back corner of my workbench.
I thought I was the only one attempting to build a fuel cell on a budget. It did my heart good to see your video just now. We did many things the same way, including using water as a blowback preventing check valve of sorts.
Your video was great, and I can't wait to watch more of what you have posted!
Take good care, my fellow mad scientist!
*** ATTENTION*** I purposely left off some steps so that none of you would accidentally hurt yourselves attempting to copy my work. I do not care about sharing the idea, but I care about your well-being. This is meant for information purposes and is not a complete step-by-step design. I cannot stress the danger of this enough. It can cause bodily harm up to and including death.
Instructions unclear: blew up grandma. R.I.P. you will be missed gram gram.
You did an amazing job utilizing readily available items. One thing I would like to point out is that, even with the modifications to collect the gas separately the gasses collected is still infact HHO (maybe just in a lower presumably safer concentration). I have carried out similar experiments to stop gas cross contamination and I can confidently say gas separation isn't easily achievable without some kind of membrane.