Quote:
Originally Posted by kumaran
If really need cheap and fast hydrogen production without building a proper cell, then I would to suggest to use KOH or NaOH with aluminium cans. I did this experiment sometime ago. Just pour a little bit of KOH into stainless steel container then add aluminum pieces or softdrink aluminum can. The reaction (vigorous) between chemical and aluminum produces hydrogen.
I don't know how dangerous this gas is to our health if inhale but the reaction between aluminum can and chemical produces lots of gas for nearly 20 minutes. Electrolyte and stainless steel container gets super hot to touch. I read somewhere that one person uses this method to test run his car. One aluminium can, gives 5 mile drive. Not bad uhhh....
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This sounds so interesting, that today I made a short video about how the KOH solution and aluminum reacts together. The gas production is very impressive
See for yourself:
YouTube - Aluminum in KOH solution
Now, there are some questions. It is obvious that water and aluminum is consumed in this reaction. But what happens to KOH? Is it also being consumed? How much gas can be created with a certain amount of aluminum? How toxic is this gas?
I am not strong in chemistry, maybe someone could clarify this? I could try to fill a 2l bottle with this gas and then just weight the aluminum piece and see how much it is now lighter than before, this could hive us some useful info. I mean, aluminum costs about 1$ a KG in a scrapyard, that is a little less than one liter gas costs. If we can get enough gas out of one kg of aluminum to run the car for more kilometers than with one liter of gas, then this could be an experiment worth doing. Of course, the motor conversion to run fully of hydrogen would be expensive and difficult, but maybe we could use this just as a booster
Thanks
Jetijs