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  • In this video I am going to show you how to make hydrogen gas using easily obtainable

  • materials and also what you can do with it

  • To make the hydrogen we are going to use aluminium or aluminium depending on where you are from.

  • Sodium hydroxide or lye and water

  • Some 6mm or 1/4 inch tubing a large soda bottle

  • and a heat proof flask with a rubber stopper The hydrogen is created in the flask and its

  • an exothermic reaction so it heats up rapidly. This creates water vapour which can carry

  • traces of the sodium hydroxide. To remove as much of this as possible we pass the gas

  • through a bubbler which is the soda bottle filled with water.

  • It also helps to prevent any flames passing back down the tubing and exploding the flask.

  • So first we cut two lengths of pipe, sand the top of the soda bottle, drill two holes

  • through the soda bottle cap and enlarge them with a step drill until the pipes just fit

  • through. The longer of the two pipes should just reach

  • the bottom of the soda bottle and thats the one that connects to the stopper on the heatproof

  • flask. Next we glue the pipes in places using epoxy

  • adhesive. The pipe connects to a glass soda straw, which

  • is pushed through the rubber stopper. Heat the pipe to make it more flexible and

  • then push the pipe over the glass soda straw. To store the hydrogen we are going to make

  • a system that displaces the water from a lower bottle into a higher bottle.

  • To do that we are going to need two largw soda bottles, some 6mm or 1/4 inch tubing,

  • a non return or check valve, and a tap used for aquarium airlines and some hard plastic

  • party straws. Firstly cut three lengths of the party straw,

  • sand the soda bottle lid inside and out

  • drill three holes through the lid and then enlarge the holes with a step drill

  • until the straws can just fit through sand the bottom of the shorter straw and the

  • middle of the two longer straws Fit the straws through the lid

  • Mix some epoxy adhesive and glue the straws inside and outside the

  • lid cut another 5cm or 2 inch section of straw

  • sand the base of the second soda bottle drill a hole through it

  • enlarge the hole with a step drill sand the base of the straw and fit it into

  • the hole using epoxy adhesive glue the straw into place

  • For the second soda bottle lid we do the same again with a single 5cm length of straw

  • Cut a length of pipe to reach all the way to the bottom of the first soda bottle

  • Using some heat to make the pipe flexible Fit the pipe to one of the two longer straws

  • Cut a length of pipe and push it onto the tap

  • and then push the other end onto the short straw of the first soda bottle

  • Push another length of pipe onto the other end of the tap

  • Cut a 40cm or 16inch length of tubing and connect it to the second long straw. The other

  • end of the tube is connected to thenon return check valve

  • Cut a 20cm or 8inch length of tube and connect it to the first long straw

  • This is the straw that has a pipe connected to the other side

  • Now connect the other end of the tube to the base of the second soda bottle

  • To mount the soda bottles wrap some steel wire around the neck of each soda bottle to

  • form a hook Finally connect the output pipe from the gas

  • generation bubbler to the non return check valve

  • Attach the soda bottles to a length of wood using screw eyes

  • Fill the bubbler with water until it's 3/4 full and the bottom collection bottle until

  • it is almost full That's the equipment ready but before we go

  • further forward, sodium hydroxide is extremely corrosive and can cause you serious harm so

  • we need to wear protective gloves, clothes and eyewear.

  • With that in mind I measured out 20g of sodium hydroxide, scrunched up some aluminium foil

  • Then I added 400ml of distilled water into the heatproof container and slowly added the

  • sodium hydroxide Once that was dissolved

  • I added the balls of aluminium foil and replaced the rubber stopper

  • The reaction starts of slowly at first with a small but steady stream of hydrogen passing

  • through the bubbler As production increases the hydrogen is stored

  • in the bottle on the left and the water displaced into the bottle above it

  • Once the storage bottle is full, the excess hydrogen bubbles up through the top expansion

  • bottle and we can collect it by securing a 40 litre

  • trash bag to the lid with an elastic band now we have some hydrogen and this is the

  • fun bit so we are going to need a face shield and

  • ear protectors I have added some soapy water to this cup

  • and turning on the tap produces hydrogen bubbles and I can ignite them with a barbeque lighter

  • Let do it again capturing it in slow motion So these bubbles are hydrogen rather than

  • the hydrogen oxygen mix that you would get form electrolysis

  • and thats the reason its burning rather than exploding

  • While I was burning the bubbles the trash bag has continued to inflate

  • SO I have tied up the bottom and attached some fishing line

  • and its just floating there But you are not watching this to see balloons

  • float so ... This is an empty egg shell with a hole in

  • the top and bottom I am filling it with hydrogen and keeping

  • some tape over the top to stop the hydrogen leaking out

  • I light the top hole and as the hydrogen burns it pulls oxygen in through the bottom hole

  • creating an explosive mixture That was a pringles can filled with hydrogen

  • and a bit of flour This is in slow motion and if you look carefully

  • you can see that the flour partially ignites This is a 4 pint plastic milk carton filled

  • with hydrogen and its working in the same way as the egg

  • The force form this was incredible blowing out the sides and the top of the milk jug

  • Finally I made a stove froma coupl eof coke cans

  • It has three holes in the top for burners and it is filled with fiberglass insulation

  • Thats it for now if you like this project then you might like some of my others please

  • subscribe checkout my website at techydiy.org

  • Thanks for watching and I will see you again next time

In this video I am going to show you how to make hydrogen gas using easily obtainable

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