Hydrogen Balloons
In an effort to come up with some interesting STEM demonstrations, I have now turned to making Hydrogen Gas,
Hydrogen is the lightest element, on Saturday I was at the STEAM café. I know that I can put Magnesium Ribbon in to a Conical Flask of White Vinegar and this produces Hydrogen gas. I tried to collect this using a balloon, it worked. However, we lost the balloon as it came away from the flask, but as a proof of concept, we know the idea works.
I have now tried this again at home, I don't have much white vinegar left, so I would assume this is a mix of Hydrogen or just Hydrogen as it is lighter. Either way, the following set up will produce the gas and inflate a balloon.
What I need to do now is find a way to seal up the balloon without losing the collected gas.
In theory it should be possible to use a lighted splint to ignite the balloon and Hydrogen within. This is DANGEROUS so DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.
We know the hydrogen is in the balloon as it should rise if let go and sealed, where as a balloon full of air will fall as air (a mixture of gasses) is heavier.
The above is a picture of the inflated Balloon, as a proof of concept again it inflated, I need to use more white vinegar so there is less air in the flask to begin with, so more change of collecting the actual Hydrogen gas properly.
Tags
#Chemistry,#Gas,#Hydrogen,#Experiment
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