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Sodium Journal
Happy days! (Evidently I get very excited about science). My litmus paper finally arrived in the mail! It seemed like it was never going to arrive. At one stage I had almost given up on waiting and had, in response to my unending impatience, resorted to making a home made alkalinity test using Turmeric. Yep, you heard me right, turmeric! (More on this rabbit hole in another upcoming post).
What ever the case, this momentous occasion has finally given me the opportunity to test my homemade sodium hydroxide factory. For those not in the know. The original goal was simple. I had a desire to take seawater and create two valuable substances through the process of electrolysis. This was, as it turns out, a success. The procedure has also given me an insight into how slight changes to the electrode configuration can change the outcomes in substantial ways. Originally, I designed the electrolytic cell to operate from carbon electrodes only. This resulted in the production of a substantial quantity of chlorine in twenty four hours. The anode side of the reactor quickly turned green as the gas of chlorine was produced and mixed with the water. The chlorine was so strong that I almost passed out when opening the anode side of the cell. In all seriousness, the chlorine was extremely strong with this one. (A warning to all who attempt this experiment. Chlorine gas is deadly. When I say I almost passed out, I’m not joking). Whatever the case, it was confirmed. I had indeed managed to create chlorine from seawater. This chlorine substance in the anode side of the cell was quickly bottled and stored before the chlorine could escape my grasp. After three weeks of storage it was finally tested using the newly arrived litmus paper. This swiftly confirmed that it was indeed very acidic. The litmus paper turned a bright orange in response to being dipped in the chlorine water. No surprises there. However, what came as a surprise was what occurred in my modified version of the electrolytic cell (latest version.) My latest version of the cell was altered by simply adding iron electrodes to the system. This resulted in iron chloride being produced instead of chlorine. This was a much weaker acid, as the test with the litmus paper soon revealed. A pale yellow colour was produced, not much different to the original colour of the litmus paper itself. Meanwhile, in the cathode side of the cell the possible hydroxide mix was waiting to be tested. It is well known that Sodium hydroxide in a solution is very alkaline. This quality was after all, what makes the substance so disirable in the manufacture of soaps. As this was the case I was expecting to see the litmus paper turn purple in response to being dipped into the cathode side of the electrolytic cell. And as expected, this was exactly what occurred. This confirmed that I had also created sodium hydroxide from seawater, exactly as I had set out to do. To wrap things up I can confidently say that my experiment has been a complete success. I have managed to take normal seawater from the beach and have created two substances of value. Through the art of electrolysis I have managed to unlock two chemicals that are extremely important to the industrial world but more importantly it is a process that is important to me. For years I have had a desire to make soap from scratch. And having the ability to make sodium hydroxide from seawater is a massive step in the right direction to achieving this strange goal. Now to process enough of it to make a decent quantity of soap. How long will this take? That is a question that I am still in the process of answering. When I know, you will know.
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In this video I demonstrate how easy it is to extract both drinking water and salt from ocean water! Both these extracts are vital to human survival and knowing how to extract them is a wonderful skill to understand! |
Micheal FarmerFollow along as I learn all about the element sodium. ArchivesCategories |