Thread: WHY has this not changed everything??

Originally Posted by Xei

Apologies Marvo, I was responding to Mario and didn't realise you posted.

In response to what you said; there's not really such a thing as 'practically impossible' in science... lots of zeros may make a number look small but all this means is that you need to increase various variables which typically allow for huge variation; for example, in this circumstance there's no practical reason you can't just increase the voltage a thousandfold with a transformer.

If it was 'practically impossible' for pure water to conduct electricity, then how do we get hydrogen from electrolysing water; something which is most definitely possible?

Salt water conducts a lot easier because it just electrolyses the salt ions instead of the hydroxide and hydrogen ions, which are much more abundant in the solution.

Heh, I don't know enough about physics and chemistry to really answer any of this. I'm not even sure if the effectivity/speed of the electrolysing process is any quicker if the water is highly conductive or not.

The reason for practically not being able to increase the voltage a thousand fold is that such a transformer wouldn't be practical

Originally Posted by Marvo

Heh, I don't know enough about physics and chemistry to really answer any of this. I'm not even sure if the effectivity/speed of the electrolysing process is any quicker if the water is highly conductive or not.

We did an experiment in class to this effect once. We found that there was a very distinct difference between distilled water and water with ions in it. Ions do, in fact, improve the rate of electrolyzation, and significantly at that.

Xei, pure water is a very good insulator. It conducts electricity about as well as space conducts sound (that is to say not non-existent, but of no practical significance). I'd feel pretty safe jumping into a pool of distilled water holding on to a plugged-in toaster.

As for the rate of electrolysis... well try this experiment. Take a glass of tap water and put copper wire in it connected to each lead of a lantern battery, then do the same with a glass of the same water with a couple spoonfuls of table salt in it. You'll notice a lot more action in the second glass. If you can get a hold of some laboratory grade distilled water and try the same thing, you probably won't notice any reaction at all.